


Out There Reimagined

by ParadoxProphet



Series: Out There [1]
Category: 9 (2009)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Backstory, Multi, Original Character Death(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-05
Updated: 2013-07-20
Packaged: 2018-01-14 16:23:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 43,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1273132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParadoxProphet/pseuds/ParadoxProphet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A retelling of the 9 movie with a twist, three more characters, a little romance, and a bit of development into characters who weren't touched upon as much in the original movie. (This is a remake of an old fic, hence the Reimagined in the title)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Survival

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rewrite of a fanfic I wrote back in 2010, as I decided to revisit it last year and update it. I plan on uploading my personal thoughts of each chapter seperate from the story itself, as they are long, and I also have shorts to make alongside them.

Death. That was all there was left in this world. Every minute, another life was lost to the machines. That was why it was important to keep running, the small running Stitchpunk thought. Staying out in the open meant certain death. He had to keep running, had to keep hiding. He stopped by a fallen street sign, searching for a place to hide until it was safe to move again. He spotted a can not too far from where he stood. It was perfect, he would never be found in there. It was a little far, but he thought he could make it. Not wanting to waste any time, he ran as fast as he could to the can. Everything was going good so far, nothing was around to stop him. Safety was in his grasp. When he had reached the halfway point, something stopped him in his tracks. He looked up to see a young human girl. She too had been looking for a place to hide, but she didn't realize that she was preventing the small doll-like being from doing the same. She was terrified, tears streaming down her cheeks as she seemed to be glued to the spot she stood. The small Stitchpunk quickly hid behind a nearby pile of rubble, waiting for the small girl to move on her way. Hopefully she would run before it was too late.

Suddenly, the sound of stomping came from out of nowhere, catching the attention of both the girl and the Stitchpunk. The young human turned around to find herself facing a Walker unit, its guns aimed straight towards her. She was frozen in fear, her legs unable to move. Small sobs escaped from her chest. The Stitchpunk looked on with worry. She was so young, she didn't deserve to die like this. He had to do something to save her. “R-run away! H-h-hurry!!!” the small Stitchpunk tried yelling out, but he was too late. His cries were drowned out by the sound of gunshots as the machine riddled the girls body with bullets. All he could do was watch as yet another life was brutally taken away, the image burning into his mind. The machine ceased fire, and the girl's body fell to the ground into a small pool of blood. With no other humans in sight, the Walker stomped away in search of victims elsewhere. With the coast clear, the small Stitchpunk began to run franticly towards his original destination. He wanted to be as far away from the dead body as possible. Not focusing on his surrounding, he tripped over and fell into the pool of fresh blood. He got back up, a look of fear in his eyes as he saw his reflection tinted in red. Realizing what he had fallen into, he ran away screaming until he reached the can.

Once inside the small shelter, he sat down and looked at his shaking hands, dripping the blood of the young girl he failed to save. That human died because he was unable to warn her in time. It was all his fault. He had the chance to save one of the humans and failed. All he could do was watch as she had been shot over and over until she died. He had already seen so many people die that way, but that one would haunt him forever. Still shaking, he mumbled to himself “M-m-my...f-fault...” over and over. Ignoring the world outside, the striped Stitchpunk continued to sit in the dark can. After all, what good would he be to others of his kind if he couldn't even save one small life?

\---------------------------

Elsewhere, another Stitchpunk by the name 15 was searching her surroundings. Not for a hiding place, but for someone. She had seen an image in her head about another of her kind like herself, and was determined to find them. It hadn't been the first time she had seen something in her mind. During her short time at the home of the Creator, she had seen other people and items with no way to explain. She just became used to it, even when it happened in this place. In her hands, she carried a black key. She knew little about what this key would do, except that it held a great deal of importance. That was all the creator had told her when he had given it to her. She looked back in the direction she had came from, noticing that she could no longer see the dwelling in which she had awakened in. Although she had left of her own choosing, she was already beginning to miss her time there. However, she had more important things to take care of. That person like her was somewhere out here, and she was going to find him no matter what.

As 15 walked on, her foot managed to hit something on the ground, causing her to fall over. She got back on her feet, and dusted off any dirt that had managed to stick to her. She turned over to see what had caused her to trip in the first place. She saw a black lock lying there beside her. She couldn't figure out why, but there was something about that lock that intrigued the light gray Stitchpunk. Out of curiosity, she took the key she had with her and placed it into the keyhole, wondering if the two matched. Turning it however, gave no results. The lock remained closed. She realized that it couldn't be that simple of an answer as to what the key was for. She took the lock in her hands, still wondering what interest she had for it. However, now was not the time to sit and wonder. She decided to take the lock with her, holding it in her other hand. Without a moment wasted, she continued on her search.

\---------------------------

"Come on! Can't we go anywhere without nearly being blown to bits?!" a Stitchpunk called 16 yelled to his fellow companions, a pair of mute twins called 3 and 4, and a paranoid Stitchpunk with buttons called 5. Just about everywhere they had tried to hide so far had been destroyed in some manner, causing irritation in the hat-wearing Stitchpunk. His outburst caused the twins to quickly hide behind 5.

"16 calm down, you're scaring the twins." 5 said, hoping to settle down his companion. Out of the four in their little group, he was the most mature and rational. 3 and 4 were only children, while 16 complained a lot and made inappropriate wisecracks when he wasn't. "Besides, yelling about this isn't going to solve anything."

"Well what else am I supposed to do?! Pray to the Creator that we don't explode?" 16 responded. "Or maybe I should ask for somebody to come and find us! Seriously 5, unless we get incredibly lucky, we're doomed out here! Doomed I tell you!" he said before sitting down on a rock and crossing his arms.

5 let out a sigh at 16's stubbornness. "Then maybe we should get moving. Maybe we'll find others. The Creator did mention that there are others like us who we have to find. It's certainly better than staying here waiting to die." The two had remembered the words of their creator well. Many more of them were roaming the battlefield somewhere, yet they had no idea where to start looking for them. The only thing they could do is keep searching and hope they found someone.

16 couldn't argue with 5's plan, no matter how hard he tried to. "Oh fine! Let's go!" he shouted out in defeat. He got up from the rock and began to storm off, grumbling to himself. 5 shook his head and ran after him; the twins slowly caught up with them.

'16 is very stubborn, isn't he brother?' 4 flashed through her eyes to her twin brother. Although they couldn't speak, they had developed their own way of communicating to each other and their two comrades by flashing their eyes and clicking. Although 5 and 16 couldn't fully understand them just yet, they managed to gather what they were trying to say.

'Indeed he is sister. I think 5 is having a harder time trying to control him than he is staying alive out here.' 3 flashed back. The two silently giggled as they continued to follow the, technically speaking, older Stitchpunks. 16 looked at them, wanting to say something along the lines of, "I understood what you were saying just now!"

\--------------------------

A light purple Stitchpunk sat down beside a small pile of rubble, taking a bit of rest from all the running she had done. It wasn't easy trying to avoid getting squished, what with being less than a foot high. She began to catch her breath when she began to hear voices from nearby. Curious, she looked around the corner and saw a group of four beings like herself walking. She breifly wondered if they were friend or foe, but quickly shove suspicions out of her mind. They were the first of her kind she had seen on the war ground, there was no way they could be her enemy.

She considered joining up with them, but decided she should watch them from the shadows before interacting with them further. That way she would be able to know what they were like and could avoid any unpleasant first impressions. She fiddled with the strands of beads on the back of her head, thinking of her plan to make herself known only at the right moment. She quietly giggled to herself, making sure none of them could possibly hear her. "11, you are a genius." she whispered to herself.

\----------------------------

A group of four stood under an old army helmet lying out on the battlefield. One of them, an elderly Stitchpunk called 2, was keeping watch through a hole in the side. Another elder who wore a broken bullet shell on his head was giving a task to a female Stitchpunk. “7, go out and search for a safe way out of this damned death ground. If you come across anyone, bring them with you. I want to make sure that if there are others like us, that they don't get destroyed. Understand?” 1, the older of the two elders, explained. 7, the woman who was receiving the orders, nodded her head in understanding. “Very well. 8, lift this thing up!” he told a much larger Stitchpunk behind him. 8 obeyed and lifted the helmet that was serving as their temporary shelter.

Before 7 ran out, 2 placed his hand on her shoulder, a worried look on his face. “Be careful out there.” he said.

“Don't worry 2, it's going to take more than this war to stop me.” she reassured the elder with a smile. With that, she was on her way. Out to find anyone and a place to where they could be safe. She quickly looked back and saw that the helmet had already been placed back down. The other three would be safe, she thought. They had 8 after all. Returning to the task at hand she continued to go on her way. 1 was right about this place being a death ground. Almost everywhere she looked, there was a dead body. She even saw the body of a little girl, lying in a pool of blood. And if she didn't find a corpse, she saw someone else getting killed. Whether it was because they were fighting back, or if they were trying to run, they were killed all the same.

Eventually, she saw a building in the distance where they could hide. It was undamaged for the most part and seemed rather stable. It was perfect. 1 would be satisfied with what she had found. As 7 began to head back to inform her leader, she noticed four others not too far from her. They were definitely Stitchpunks like herself, and they seemed like they were rather lost. Well, she had been told to bring back anyone that she came across. It didn't really matter who they were. Not wanting to waste any more time, she ran over towards the small group.

\--------------------------

15 began to get tired in her search. It must have been from the extra weight from carrying both the key and the lock, she thought. She knew that she had no choice but to rest and continue afterwards. But she couldn't stay out in the open, she would be killed in an instant. Luckily, she saw a can nearby that would serve as the perfect place to regain her strength. She ran as fast as she could towards the can, dragging the two items with her. Before entering the can, she took notice of something peculiar. Leading into the can was a set of faint red footprints, while small red spots were scattered around them. They were about the size of her feet, which meant that one of her own kind was either inside at the moment or already gone. She began to hear slight mumbling coming from inside the can, confirming the former guess. She slowly stuck her head inside, but it was too dark to see much. “Hello? Is anyone here?” she called out. Instead of an answer, she heard a whimper and something scrambling to the back in fear. Whoever was in here was afraid of her, or at least startled. “It's alright. I'm not going to hurt you. I only came here to get some rest. I mean no harm.” she said. No response came, so she walked into the can. She sat down near the entrance and placed the key and lock down next to her.

A few minutes passed before 15 picked the lock back up and stared at it. Her thoughts once again turned to why it interested her so much. There didn't appear to be anything that special about it. It just looked like something that could go around her neck. Suddenly, an idea struck her. she took one of her pen-nibbed fingers and placed it in the keyhole, fiddling with it until she heard a small click. The lock was open. She placed it right around her neck. Once it was set in place, she took one end and clicked it in. Now she was certain that it wouldn't be coming off anytime soon. This would make it easier to carry, and keep it from getting lost in any way. 15 turned her head as she began to hear whoever else was in here come closer. As they stepped forward, she was able to get a better look at them. His entire body was covered in black and white stripes, which was completely different from her light gray color. On his head were little strands of black yarn that looked like hair. His optics were strange, as the left one was bigger than the right and were different colors. However, it was his hand that interested her the most. His fingers were made of pen tips, much like her own.

“Who are you?” 15 asked, amazed at his appearance. The Stitchpunk didn't respond to her question. He just stared at her, and then the key she had been holding. She noticed his interest and got another idea. She picked up the key and walked towards him. He became startled and began to back away again. “Wait, I'm not going to hurt you." she explained. "I just want to give this to you.” She held out the key in her hands. The striped Stitchpunk stopped backing away and moved a little closer. 15 placed the key around his neck. Confused, he stared at her, uncertain why she gave this to a complete stranger. “There. Now you get to have the key, and I no longer have to carry anything.” she joked. She giggled for a minute at her little joke. "But you have to protect this key. It's very important and must never be lost." The striped Stitchpunk looked down at his new responsibility, unsure of what to think. 15 began to think as she looked at him. Could this be the person she was looking for? Or was he just another soul lost in the war? She decided to take her chances and held her hand out in front of him. “I'm called 15. What's your name?” she asked again.

The Stitchpunk was confused by this gesture. What was she doing? Did she want him to take her hand into his own? She didn't seem dangerous, and his chances of finding others at this point seemed slim, so he decided to trust her. Slowly, he reached his hand towards hers, until they were holding each others hand. “I-I'm 6...” he answered. He held the key he was just given in his other hand. He looked up at 15 with a frightened expression on his face. “W-will you...get m-m-me out...of h-here?” he asked.

15 could tell that 6 had seen too much out in the war zone. He needed to be taken somewhere safe, somewhere stable, somewhere they could hide until the war was over. “Of course.” she said with a small smile. She looked back outside and saw a tall building that looked practically untouched by the machines. It wasn't too far away from where they were hiding either. With 6's hand in hers, she began to lead him to the building. “And I know just where we're going.”

As they exited the can, 6 managed a meek smile of his own; it was the first one he had ever made since he had left the First Room. He began to think that maybe, just maybe, things would get better from here on out. So long as he stayed with this 15 person, everything would turn out fine.


	2. Meeting

16 had finally given up hope. It had been what felt like hours, and there was still no sign of there being anyone else of their kind besides 5, the twins, and himself. He was beginning to doubt that these so-called “others” were still alive, if they were even alive in the first place. He looked behind him to see what his companions were doing. At that moment, 5 was trying to get 3 and 4 to stay together with little luck. The two just kept running around, making it hard for him to keep up. He tried to chase them around with no luck, yelling at them to settle down. He stopped to catch his breath from all the running. “Man, it's impossible to keep track of you two!” 5 shouted out at the hyperactive twins as they tried hiding behind 16.

“Hey, look on the bright side, 5. At least you don't have one eye. That would make it impossible to keep track of them!” 16 joked, trying to lift the mood a little bit, as well as try to make himself feel better. 5 wasn't amused with his little joke however, and just walked past the three childish Stitchpunks with a sigh.

“We need to keep moving. Now is not the times for jokes like that 16. Besides, if I only had one eye, 3 and 4 would be your problem.” 5 responded.

“Why do we need to keep moving anyway? We've been out here for hours and haven't found a trace of anybody else! Just face it! There isn't anyone else like us out here! They're probably all dead by this point!” 16 stated, beginning to complain again. “In fact, if by some miracle we do find someone out here, I'll eat my own hat!” he said, crossing his arms.

In the shadows, 11 was thinking about revealing herself. They had been searching for a long time, although that was because 16 had been leading them around in circles, and she didn't want them to keep wandering endlessly with no hope. She prepared herself to walk out and speak to them, but before she could do anything, a voice called out to the group. “Hey there! Are you alright?”

5 and 16 turned their heads, spotting a white, female Stitchpunk running towards them. 3 and 4 were interested in the strange Stitchpunk and were eager to meet her. 5 looked back at 16 with a smirk on his face. “Now what was that about eating your hat if we found somebody?” he asked.

16 just glared at him. “She found us, it doesn't count.” he insisted, trying to save himself from keeping the deal.

5 just rolled his eyes before turning back to the newcomer. The twins had eagerly begun to catalogue her until 5 told them to stop. The twins sulked back over to his side as 5 introduced themselves. "Sorry about that, they were just interested in you. I'm 5. These two are 3 and 4, and this guy is 16." he said, gesturing to the members of his group as he gave her their names. "Who are you?"

“I'm 7," she began. "My group sent me out to find more of our kind in the hopes that we can all make it out of here. And there's no need to apologize.” she explained.

"You mean there are others?" 5 asked, a smile on his face. 7 nodded her head.

"Just follow me." 7 said. 3 and 4 were overjoyed to be going with her, while 16 just stood there with his mouth hung open in astonishment. 5 seemed to be glad that there really were others, and let the female Stitchpunk lead the way. From her hiding spot, 11 was glad that someone had found 5's group. Curious about who the others 7 spoke of might be, she decided to keep following them. As the five Stitchpunks began to head back to where 1 waited, 11 trailed behind them, still waiting for the right moment to reveal herself.

\-----------------------------

15 and 6 stopped for a brief moment and starred at the large building before them. The size made it look a little intimidating at their height, as 6 was shaking like crazy just standing in front of it. He was still holding onto his new key for a source of comfort, while the other hand was squeezing 15's arm as hard as it could. She could see the fear in his eyes. The poor little Stitchpunk had seen things that he shouldn't have and it made him terrified. That was something she was hoping to fix. She placed her hand on his back, which startled him and caused him to flinch until he realized that it was only her. “It's alright 6, we should be safe here. The machines haven't even tried to attack this place yet. It's going to alright. We're going to be safe.” she tried comforting 6 the best she could.

6 became less jittery hearing 15's comments. He looked at her the way a scared little kid would look at their mother. “S-s-safe...?” he managed to mumble. He let go of his key and suddenly began to cling to her left arm completely, as if it was going to protect him from everything. “W-w-we'll be safe...” was all he said as he held onto the arm. 15 was confused as to why he was acting like this, but there was something about it that she seemed to like. It was almost kind of cute in a way.

Before either of them knew it, the sound of a nearby explosion startled both of them back to reality. 6 let go of 15's arm as soon as he had grabbed it. “Let's go. We need to get to that building as soon as possible.” 15 said, running toward the entrance. 6 ran after her, not wanting to be left behind out here. Another explosion that sounded even closer than the last one, caused the ground beneath them to shake. 15 lost her balance and fell to the side, her right arm piercing a loose glass shard sticking out of the ground. Upon impact, she yelled out in pain. 6 heard her yell, and he looked back in fear. He had already seen one person die because he was too late to act, he wasn't about to let that happen again. Not to her. He ran over to where she was lying in order to help her up. He removed her arm from the glass, and saw the damage. The shard had torn through the fabric in the middle of the arm and had pierced her joints, leaving the bottom half of the arm dangling there. He didn't know how to fix it, but he didn't want to leave her there. He pulled her up, and rested her damaged arm across his shoulders. Slowly, he brought her inside the building as another explosion sounded off farther away.

When they entered, 6 carefully rested her on a book that was near the entrance. Once 15 had sat down, she placed the arm on her legs so it wouldn't hang and possibly fall off. With her free hand, she began to draw an image that just popped into her head in the dirt. As she drew, 6 starred at the image intrigued, almost as if he had seen it before. When it was finished, it turned out to be some kind of circle with three strange symbols in it. 6 smiled a little, recognizing the image in front of him. “T-the Source!” he proclaimed with joy.

15 looked at him, confused. “The Source? Is that what this is? It's not just something I'm imagining am I?” she asked. "I mean, it isn't the first thing I've seen in my head with no warning."

6 turned his head back to 15, his look of joy replaced with surprise. “Y-you have visions t-t-too?” he asked, sounding hopeful.

“If by visions, you mean these strange images that pop into my head and show me things and events that might happen, then yes.” she said, unsure that she should be telling this to him.

6 began to search around the front of the room. He came back with a slightly crumpled piece of paper and a small ink jar. He placed the paper next to 15's good arm, and set the ink jar to the side of the book. “D-draw with m-me...F-15?” he asked.

“Why not.” 15 said with a smile. It was better than sitting here doing nothing, and fixing her arm was currently out of the question. She dipped her fingers into the ink and moved her hands across the paper slowly. 6 joined her and began to draw across the paper. 'Besides, I have to do something while I wait for others to get here.' she thought.

\---------------------------

1 looked through the hole for 7 from inside of the helmet. 2 had been getting worried about her being gone for so long and had asked him to watch for her. What 2 didn't know was that 1 was also getting worried about her, but he would never admit it. He had to keep his image as a strict and stern leader. 2 asked him if he could see her for about the twenty-fifth time. He was about to once again respond no, until he saw something move across the bleak landscape. There was no doubt that it was 7. Following behind her were four more Stitchpunks. “You're lucky, 2. I can see her, and she's found more of our kind.” 1 said, hoping that the other elder would finally stop talking.

2 let out a sigh of relief. “Oh thank the Creator.” he said.

A slight knock came from the outside, and 1 signaled 8 to raise the helmet. “I found others.” 7 told the leader, motioning toward the four behind her to get inside. 1 and 2 got a good look at each of them. The first to enter was a pair of twins marked as 3 and 4. The next was a timid looking Stitchpunk with buttons called 5. Last, was a light gray boy wearing a leather hat called 16. 2 looked at the frightened 5 and tried to comfort him.

“It's alright my boy, things will be fine.” he said.

The ground began to quake from an explosion, which meant they had to get moving fast. “There's a building up ahead. It looks stable and should keep us safe.” 7 explained. She began to run ahead, leading them to protection.

1 turned back to look at the others inside the helmet. “You heard her, follow me.” he motioned to the others to get moving. 8 put the helmet back down to protect them, and the group began following after 7. Not long after they had began walking, a blast came from behind causing 5 to lose his balance and fall out of the helmet. Turning himself over, he found three Walkers heading towards him. He felt a bump under him as a human man walked past him and threw a blaming projectile at the Walker in the middle, but upon impact it did nothing to stop the machine. The Walker pointed its gun at him and shot at the attacker. Within seconds, the human fell to the ground and 5 was running to keep himself from being hit by the remaining bullets. The Walkers didn't shoot at him, which he found to be strange, but he soon discovered why. Giant pods nearly hit him from both sides. He just nearly dodged them, but a third one hit him from behind and slammed his head into the ground. The impact caused his vision to falter, and his head to grow heavy. 5 began to lose consciousness, and everything was becoming fuzzy as a green gas covered the area.

"1, stop! That boy 5 is missing!" 2 said with worry. "We have to go back to help him!"

1 turned to face him, telling 8 to stop moving. The large Stitchpunk did as he was told, the others stopping along with them. "There's no time to go back for him! It's too late! What matters right now is that the rest of us make it to safety!" 1 said.

"I can't just leave him to die, 1! We have to stick together right now! Nobody should be left behind! I'm going after him whether you like it or not." 2 retorted. He slowly tried to lift the helmet in hopes of getting out. 16 and the twins helped him in his efforts, they too were worried about what might happen to their friend. The four of them managed to lift it up just enough for 2 to make it outside. Without wasting another moment he ran out onto the battlefield, much to 1's displeasure.

2 returned to the area where the explosion had occurred, and found 5 lying on the ground. The strange green gas that was coming from the pods made difficult to see, but 2 was able to reach him in time. He picked 5 off of the ground and looked at the damage. His left eye was gone completely, and sparks were shooting out of the wires in the socket. 2 just tried to smile, hoping that it would reassure the boy. With the Walkers getting closer, the elder attempted to bring 5 back to the others.

11 was watching everything that was happening with worry. She could see the Walkers getting closer to the elderly Stitchpunk, knowing that they would never make it in time unless she acted quickly. She jumped down from the pile of rubble, and ran as fast as she could. “Look out!” she yelled, as she pushed the two Stitchpunks out of the way just in time. They looked back, and saw the Walkers foot land in the exact spot 2 had just been standing in. 11 sighed with relief and said, “Thank goodness, that was way too close.”

“My dear, thank you for saving us.” 2 said with a grin.

11 blushed a little at the thanks she was getting. “It was nothing. I couldn't just stand there and let you get crushed. Any decent person would've done the same.” she stated with a determined look on her face.

As 5 drifted into unconsciousness, he looked at the Stitchpunk who had just saved them, but could only see a blurry, light purple figure. It came closer to him and began to lift him up with 2. “Come on, we need to get him out of here.” he heard a female voice say. It wasn't 7 though, he knew that much. He wanted to know who she was, this woman who had saved his life, but his vision faded into darkness as the last bit of consciousness drifted away.

2 and 11 made it back to the others with 5 in tow. Everyone noticed 5's condition, a horrible feeling sinking in. 16 felt terrible, remembering the wisecrack he had made earlier. 1 noticed this newcomer and became suspicious. “What is the meaning of this?! Who are you? I don't remember seeing you with 7!” he questioned.

11 starred at the elder with a defiant look. “My name is 11, and I believe that I'm the one who just saved these two from getting trampled, old man.” she told 1. "I happened to save them from being trampled by one of those machines, and all you're worrying about is who I am?" Upon being called an old man, along with 11's other comments, 1 became furious. Before he could say anything in retaliation, 2 and 11 headed into the helmet with 5. 7 just looked at 1 and shook her head in disappointment. 1 ignored her and walked back into the helmet as well. The group continued on their way to the tall building in the distance, unaware of what waited for them there.

\----------------------------

The two artists had nearly filled up the piece of paper with all sorts of little drawings. There were drawings of the Source, of each other, and a few of them were even from visions the two of them had. The two of them smiled at each other. After all that had happened out there, it was nice for the two of them to have a peaceful moment such as this.

15 looked up from the piece of paper and stopped drawing. From the open crack in the doorway she could see an object moving closer to the building, and she faintly heard voices. She knew what it was, and what that meant for them both. They were no longer alone. 6 noticed that she had stopped drawing and stood up. “F-f-f-15? Is s-s-something wrong?” he asked.

15 looked back at 6 and said, “We've got company.”

She tried to stand back up, and grabbed her right arm so that whoever was coming wouldn't see her wound. 6 stood beside her protectively. He didn't want whatever was out there to hurt them, especially in 15's current state. “15, w-we should h-hide.” he said. 15 turned her head around to look at her striped companion. As much as she wanted to meet them, she knew that it would be best to wait it out until things settled down. She searched around until she found a bench where they could both hide. She let go of her arm and pushed 6 behind it, watching to see what these guests would do.

The first ones to enter were a huge Stitchpunk, and a smaller elder that wore a bullet shell on his head. The smaller of the two inspected the area, determining whether it was suitable. “This should do. Although it could use some improvements. We'll stay here.” he said. The larger Stitchpunk just grunted, which seemed to show that he understood what the elder had said. 15 assumed that the smaller one was the leader.

The next to enter were a pair of twins, and a light gray Stitchpunk. The twins began flashing their eyes at everything they could find. The gray one just looked around the building and smirked. “Nice digs. I could totally hang here.” he said, placing his hands behind his head.

Next to enter was a white Stitchpunk, and behind her were two more carrying an unconscious Stitchpunk by the arms. The two placed him on a rock and only looked at him with worry. “2, will 5 be alright?” a light purple girl with strands of beads on her head asked.

“Well 11, I'm afraid that I can't replace his eye, but I should be able to patch it up with the right materials. It may take some time, but rest assured, he should be fine.” an elder, who 15 assumed was 2, answered. The one called 11 looked disappointed, but tried to smile upon hearing that he would be okay.

Suddenly, the twins started making excited clicks about something they had found. 15 and 6 looked and saw that they were going nuts over their drawings. They had forgotten to take the piece of paper with them before hiding. 6 let out a slight whimper and began to shake. “6, it's alright. They're not going to do anything to it.” 15 whispered. She kept hold of her arm, so she was unable to try to comfort 6 like she had before. She looked back to the group that had entered, realizing something was missing. The large one was no where in sight.

“Well well, lookie what I jus' found. A couple a pipsqueaks!” They heard a deep voice coming from right above them. The two artists looked up and found themselves face to face with the huge Stitchpunk. He had a smirk on his face that made both of them worried. The brute picked the two up by their key and lock, and brought them over to 1, as the number on his back indicated. “Hey boss, I found dese two hiding behind dat bench over dere.” the brute explained, dropping 6 and 15.

1 glared at the two as they lay on the floor. “Good work 8. You caught these trespassers red-handed. Or black-handed in this case.” he said, noticing the ink stained fingers they both had. A few of the others turned from what they were focused with, looking at their leader dealing with the newcomers. 11 was ready to stand up for them, still a bit sore about his behavior towards her earlier.

15 stood up, keeping her arm injury hidden, and walked up to 1. “Now wait just a minute here! We were here long before you had shown up. We haven't done anything worth being accused for. We can't even be trespassers considering you don't own this place. The two of us have as much of the right to be here as you do.” she explained, determined to clear their name. 6 just got up and tried to hide behind 15. There was something about 1 that scared him, most likely the brute that stood beside him; he couldn't believe that 15 was standing up to him like this. 7 and 11 looked at 1's reaction to what this girl had told him, 3 and 4 began to hide behind 11, 16 was wondering what was this girl's deal, and 2 noticed the fact that the girl was holding on to her arm strangely. 8 stood behind 1, ready to do anything that he had to if she went after 1.

1 was startled by 15's defense, but quickly regained his composure. “A likely story. If you are so innocent like you claim, you wouldn't have needed to hide when we entered. I've already allowed more than I can deal with to stay with us, and there's no room for sneaky little liars. 8, dispatch them!” he ordered. 8 however, didn't understand what he had said and just looked at him with a confused face. “Oh, just throw these two out!” he yelled in rage. 8 understood him that time and began to stalk towards the artists. As he came closer, 15 starred at him determined, and 6 clung onto 15's good arm in fear. As 8 was about to grab them, 2 ran out in front of them in defense.

“1! I can't believe you would do something like this! Threatening those who need our help in this time of turmoil. These two are just children, they haven't done anything to suggest they're lying! And in case you haven't noticed, the poor girl's arm is about to fall off! You may be the leader around here, and you may be my older brother, but I will not let you throw these two children back out there!” the elder argued. Everyone who had been watching was surprised at 2's outburst. Even 15 and 6 were surprised. This man they had just met was defending them, and he didn't even know their names. 1 called off 8, knowing that as long as his brother would stand in his way he couldn't get rid of them. 1 glared at 2, and then at the artists.

“Very well. But if either of them step out of line, I will not hesitate to throw them out. And you won't be able to stop me either, 'brother'...” 1 turned around to find a suitable room for him to use, with 8 following behind him.

2 looked back at the Stitchpunks and took hold of 15's arm. “Don't hide your injury, my dear. I can help you with it. Please let me take a look at it.” he said, his voice much calmer than before. 15 let go of her injured arm and let it hang limp in his grip. After studying it for a moment, 2 smiled and looked back at her. “I can fix this up no problem. A little stitching and a bit of repair to these joints will make your arm good as new. However, I need to fix up 5 over there first. He's in a horrible state at the moment. You don't mind do you?” he asked. 15 just shook her head, she could tell that he needed help immediately. “Smashing! Alright then, 11 and 16, I need you two to carry 5's body. I can see a spot over there that will serve perfectly as a workshop. 7, 3, and 4, you look around for some supplies. I'm going to need some thread, a needle, and something to patch up 5's eye.” he instructed the other Stitchpunks. “As for you miss...15, I need you to follow me. Your little friend here can come too if he would like.” he said, referring to 6.

“Thank you, um, 2 wasn't it? I don't know what we would have done if you hadn't stepped in. We owe you for stopping him.” 15 said.

2 just smiled at her as he lead her over to the room he was talking about. 6 followed 15 closely, still afraid to go near anyone else. 11 and 16 picked up 5's body followed him like he had said. 7 and the twins searched around the area for the things 2 had asked for. “Not a problem, my dear. And you don't owe me a thing, I couldn't stand there and let him do such a thing to you two. Now come, let's get you and 5 fixed up shall we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the characters come together at this point, and revelations are in store.


	3. Family

2 brought 15 into the room he had mentioned, while 6, 11, and 16 followed. It was perfect for their size, as the ceiling was tall enough for even 8 to be able to walk in without hitting his head. It would need some fixing up, but the elder had more important problems to deal with at the moment; fixing up 5 and 15 was his top priority. Finding something that would serve as a temporary table, he instructed 11 and 16 to place 5 down on top of it. 2 began to get worried. He was hoping that he could fix up 5's eye before he had the chance to wake up and time was running out. Hearing someone enter through the doorway, he looked to see 7 and the twins holding the supplies he had asked for. The twins were holding a needle and thread, while 7 held a patch of leather to cover the eye.

“Smashing, this should cover up the injury just nicely. Now 16, I'll need you to hold down the patch so I can sew it in.” 2 explained, as he took the needle and thread. 16 ran over to 7 and snatched the patch out of her hands, placing it down on 5's eye socket. 7 didn't really care at the moment, 5 was more important right now.

15 sat down on the floor where she wouldn't get in the way, patiently waiting for her turn. 6 sat down next to her, as she was the only one in the room he could trust. All the others frightened him, and he didn't know what they might do. He wanted to stay close to someone he knew and trusted. As they waited, 11 came over to them. She sat down so she would be at eye level with the two artists. 6 became startled from her sudden appearance and grabbed his key for comfort. “Sorry about what happened earlier, the old man isn't that fond of people showing up with no warning. Believe me he wasn't very happy when I showed up." she said, hoping that it would make them feel more welcome. "My name is 11, and you two are?”

15 turned over to look at 6, seeing that he was scared of the light purple Stitchpunk. She couldn't really blame him though, what with the rude welcome they had received. “Don't worry 6, she won't hurt us. She's a friend.” she said, trying to reassure him. “She's not like the ones who tried to throw us out, nobody in this room is. We can trust them.”

11 began to wonder how 15 was able to figure that out. From what she figured out, 15 didn't know how any of the others acted. She had never met any of them until a few minutes ago. There was no way she could possibly know that every Stitchpunk in the room was friendly in such a short amount of time. 15's words seemed to reach 6, as he looked up at 11 without fear, just curiosity. “E-11 is a f-f-friend?” he mumbled. 11 nodded her head and smiled, which made 6 smile back at her. “S-6... M-my name is 6...” he said.

“I'm 15. It's nice to meet you 11.” 15 said, introducing herself. 11 was about to ask the two questions, but 3 and 4 popped out of nowhere and began flashing their eyes at them. They started with 11, flashing at everything from her bead strands to her stitches. She recognized what they were doing. She had seen them do it when she had been watching them. It was their cataloging ability. Although she had seen them do it before, she never expected that it would happen to her so suddenly. Once they were finished with her, they moved onto 6. The twins found him intriguing, he looked so different from the rest of their clan. His fabric, his optics, the strands of rope on top of his head that served as hair, but especially his fingers. Neither twin had ever seen anything like him. They were about to move onto 15, but 2 called her over in order to fix her arm.

Walking over to the table she looked at 5, the leather patch now covering his empty socket. He was still unconscious, he hadn't moved at all since he had arrived. His stillness worried her. “2, will 5 be alright?” she asked as the elder prepared a new strand of thread.

2 looked back at the boy before getting back to 15. “Relax my dear, 5 should be alright. He just needs some rest. He'll be up within a few hours at the most. Now just relax, this might sting a little.” he said as he passed the needle through her right arm. 15 braced herself, trying to hold back whimpers as she felt the stings. Before she knew it, the pain was gone and her arm was in one piece again. She tried moving it around to make sure that it worked properly. As nothing happened to the arm, 15 smiled. “There we are, good as new.” 2 smiled triumphantly.

15 jumped down from the table and looked at 2. “Thank you. Now I don't have to draw with one hand.” she said. 6 walked over to her and examined the new stitching on her arm. He felt relieved that she had been fixed up. He saved her from befalling the same fate as the humans he had seen, and that made him feel better more than anything.

“Draw? So you're an artist, my dear?” 2 asked, interested in her artistic nature

“Yes, I am. And so is 6.” 15 said. She looked over at 6, who had still been looking at her arm, and took his hand. “We mostly end up drawing our visions though, but we also draw other things.” At the mention of visions, everybody in the room looked at them. 15 didn't know why everybody was staring at them. “What? Was it something I said?” she asked confused.

“15, did you say that you and 6 have visions?” 2 asked. 15 just nodded her head. It didn't seem strange to her, but she didn't know that nobody besides 6 and herself had visions. It felt normal to her. “And it isn't strange for you at all?” 2 asked again. 15 shook her head, still wondering why 2 would be asking her these questions.

"I-is that b-b-bad?" 6 asked, finally speaking up. 2 was about to continue until a voice interrupted him

“AHA! I knew that there was something strange about these two! They're cursed!” Everyone turned to see 1 standing at the doorway, holding some kind of strange staff. He walked closer to the artists, slinging the staff around their necks. “You see 2, I told you these lunatics can't be trusted! They'll poison our thoughts with their ramblings! They're insane deadweight which will lead to our destruction!” 1 continued to ramble. He pushed the staff down on their necks and sent them to the floor. “My Sanctuary does not have any place for them. I want them out, or else they'll pay the price.” He removed the staff from their necks with a glare. He turned around and began to head for the exit when he spotted 5 lying on the table. “And if he proves to be useless, he shall be sent out as well.” he said before storming out.

7 ran over to 6 and 15, and helped them back up. “How could 1 treat them like this? They're not deadweight! If these two do have visions as they claim, then they could be useful! But instead he shrugs them off as being signs of insanity! I swear he's just making up reasons to throw them out.” she said. “2, you're not going to let him get away with this are you?”

2 let out a sigh. “7, I'm not sure if I can. I have to say that the concept of those children really being able to see the future does sound a little farfetched.” he looked back at the prophets, 6 was clinging tightly to 15 mumbling something. 2 couldn't tell exactly what he was saying, but it sounded something like he didn't want to go back outside.

"Come on, 2. 6 and 15 don't act like they're crazy, and I know you can see that better then anyone else." 7 said. "You're not telling me you actually believe 1's crazy accusation do you?"

“I'm not sure what to believe right now. So much has happened in this day alone." 2 answered. "However, I'm not going to let my brother just throw either of them out because of something like that. I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, they should stay in here. 11, can you wait with them and 5 while I try to settle this out?” he asked. 11 nodded her head. “Thank you. I'll go speak with 1 about this.” With that, 2 went out the door in search of 1.

7 looked down and tried to smile at 6 and 15. "Don't worry, 2 will be able to fix this mess. Just hang in there, okay?" she said. She left in search of her own room.

16 placed his hand on 15's shoulder, a look of sympathy on his face. Although he could've made a ridiculous remark, he knew that it wasn't the right time or place. "Hey, cheer up. Even if you are crazy, you're cool in my book! Besides, I think 1's hat is too small for his ego filled head so don't listen to him." he said in an attempt to comfort her. 15 tried to smile, finding his comment genuinely funny. He too went off on his own in search of supplies of his own.

The only ones who stayed besides the prophets and 11 were the twins. 4 had kept hold of the drawings that she and her brother had found earlier. She slowly approached 6 and 15 with the paper in hand. She could hear muffled whimpers and sobs coming from 6, his head buried in 15's chest. 'Did you two draw these?' she clicked through her eyes as she held up the drawings 15 looked over at 4 and took the paper out of her hand. She nudged 6's shoulder and showed him the paper. 4 thought she could see him smile a little bit, but she wasn't certain. 'You're pretty good artists if you ask me.' 4 clicked. 3 came up behind his sister, wondering if there was anything he could do to help. 'We know that you're telling the truth. If 1 wants to kick you out, he'll have to get through us in order to do so!' 4 clicked before hugging 6 and 15. 3 soon joined in the hug, agreeing with his twin. 'We're not going to let him do anything to you!'

15 and 6 were both surprised by the twins' sudden hug, but were thankful none the less. 11 looked over at the four Stitchpunks, a smile forming on her face. “You guys are a part of our family, regardless of what 1 or 8 think. And I bet that once 5 wakes up, he'll be willing to defend you too.” she said. She walked over and also joined in on the hug. Both 15 and 6 began to blush, their cheeks a bright green. They knew that she was right. They were cared for, part of a family. Nothing could change that. Not 1, not 8, not anybody.

A few minutes later, the Stitchpunks could hear a groaning sound coming from the table. They turned their heads to find 5 regaining consciousness. 3 and 4 broke off from the hug and ran over to the table, watching as he slowly awakened. 5 sat up, placing a hand on his head. His eye began to open, and his entire surroundings became clear. Well, as clear as they could get with one eye. “W...where am I?” he asked confused. He touched the area where his eye should have been, but instead found a patch of leather in its place. He was confused and frightened. What happened to his eye? Suddenly, it all came back to him. He was running from a machine when something landed on him and knocked his left eye out. 2 had found him and began to bring him back to the helmet when somebody had pushed them away, saving them from getting squashed. But after that, nothing. “What happened?! What's going on here?!” his attention turned to 11, 15, and 6, who he had never seen before. “And who are all of you?!”

11 walked over to 5 and helped him get off of the table. “It's alright, you're safe now.” she said. 5 recognized her voice. She was the one who had saved them. “I'm 11, and these two are 6 and 15.” she said motioning to the prophets. 15 smiled and waved, while 6 stood there startled from his sudden awakening. “You fell unconscious after you lost your eye. I saved you and 2 from getting stepped on by that machine. Afterwards, we brought you here and 2 fixed your eye and 15's arm. We found her and 6 here, and 2 was able to stop 1 from throwing them out. However, 1 is now demanding that they leave.” she explained.

“What? But why? They didn't do anything wrong did they?” 5 asked, walking over to 6 and 15. The two shook their heads, and held up the drawings they had made before.

“He thinks that they're insane, because they claim they can see things nobody else can.” 11 explained. “They...say they have visions. They draw them down on paper with their fingers.”

5 looked at the sheet of paper covered in drawings and then at the artists. 6 was shaking slightly, the thought of being kicked out once again entering his mind. 15 looked down at her feet dejectedly. She wasn't sure what to do at that point. She wanted to believe that 2 could convince the skeptical leader, but she had no way of knowing if he could. 5 knew that they didn't deserve being thrown out, even if they really did have visions as they claimed.

“Well I'm not letting 1 kick you out! Not after hearing all this! I'll help you in any way I can!” 5 said. 6 and 15 both smiled at the one-eyed Stitchpunk. 3 and 4 began to jump happily after hearing this, while 11 smiled at 5 sweetly. 5 turned around and looked at 11. He walked over to her, a nervous look on his face. “I, uh, want to thank you for saving me back there... If there's anyway I can repay you just let me know...” he said. His cheeks had gone green from blushing.

11 held back a laugh. "I couldn't just let you get crushed now could I? Consider that one free of charge. No payment necessary." she said. "Though next time you will owe me something." The two of them laughed with each other over the joke.

3 and 4 looked over at 5 and 11, then turned to 6 and 15 who were as happy as they could be knowing that they were being protected. They could see that the two groups had potential, potential that they probably didn't even realize was there. The twins then started flashing at each other, a plan developing in their minds.

\---------------------------

"I told you that I want them out of here at once! What part of that do you not understand?" 1 angrily asked 2, who had asked that the leader reconsider about 6 and 15.

"But 1, they can't survive out there. You saw what happened to 15's arm, who knows what else could happen to them?" 2 said. "I remember you saying that our kind needed to stick together no matter what. So I ask why are they any different?"

"They're lunatics! I won't stand to have our minds poisoned with their ridiculous fantasies! Do you honestly believe that they have visions?" 1 said.

"I admit that it's hard to believe that they do, but that doesn't justify throwing them back out into that horrible place. You and I both saw the horrors that lie in wait, who knows what they might have seen? Besides, they could be a valuable asset to our clan. If you throw them out, you'll never know what they can do. Please 1, just give them a chance. They're not that different from us." 2 pleaded.

1 let out an annoyed sigh. "You won't take no for an answer will you?" he asked. 2 shook his head. "Very well then. They can stay here. But just know that if they cause too much trouble, they will be thrown out. Nothing you or anyone else will do can stop me." With that, 1 stormed off in a huff, muttering as he went to find 8.

"I knew there was good in you, brother." 2 said with a smile. He walked back to tell 6 and 15 the good news.

\----------------------------

The next day, everybody was working on setting up their new home. 16 ended up stumbling upon a staircase which lead to a higher floor of the building that they could use. 5 and 16 were getting an elevator system set up so they wouldn't have to take the tall staircase every time. 11 and the twins were getting their own rooms set up, since they didn't have the chance to do so the day before. 1 and 8 were setting up some kind of throne room on the higher floor. 7 was helping 2 fix up his room and was making it look more like a workshop. Meanwhile, 6 and 15 were looking for a room for them. They had tried looking downstairs, but most of the rooms had already been taken and there wasn't one big enough for them both. So with no other options, they decided to look on the top floor.

Trying to avoid 1, they came across a small corner of the room that 1 and 8 were ignoring. They decided to check it out, hoping that they could use it as their room. The walls were tall and huge, perfect for placing up as many drawings as they wanted with no one to object. It was dark enough that 1 wouldn't be able to spy on them from his throne, but had enough light coming in for them to see what they were doing. And there was just enough space for the both of them, and however many ink jars and paper they needed to fit. “It's perfect. Don't you think so 6?” 15 asked. 6 was holding onto the paper with the drawings they had done yesterday, and was already placing it on the wall. He turned his head to 15 once he had finished.

“H-h-home...” he said. “T-t-the two of us a-are h-home...” 15 smiled, understanding that he agreed with her.

“That's right 6, this is our home. And it always will be.” She walked over and tousled his messy rope hair. “Nobody will take us away from it.” 6 looked at her and smiled. Everything was working out for them just like he knew it would. He had made the right choice sticking with her. No one could take her away from him.

Meanwhile, 3 and 4 had finished with their room, and were discussing their plan. 'Alright sister, who should we work on first? 5 and 11, or 6 and 15?' 3 clicked.

'I say 6 and 15. Those two have spent so much time together, so it'll be easier with them. After all, they're already pretty close.' 4 clicked back.

'Good point. But 5 and 11 need a huge push or else it won't work. You and I both know that he can be a bit spacey about these kind of things.'

'That is true. I got an idea brother, you take care of 5 and 11. I'll take on 6 and 15.'

'You are a genius sister.' With that, 3 and 4 exited their room to set their plan in motion. Luckily for 4, 5 and 16 were testing the elevator. She scrambled to make it inside before it was too late. Once it reached the top, 4 ran over to the corner to see 15 and 6 sleeping on the floor. She had forgotten that they had barely gotten any sleep because of all the commotion. They looked peaceful as they were sleeping. 6 had curled up next to 15 and was nearly hugging her. 4 decided that the plan could wait. After all that those two must have been through, they could use some rest.

'Sweet dreams you guys' she clicked, being careful not to flash too brightly. She went on her way, deciding to catalog the others. She hadn't been able to do so before. She wondered how her brother was doing, and was surprised when she saw him come up the elevator. 'Brother? What are you doing? I thought that you were going to try and-' she began clicking.

'11 is too busy to do anything. What about you, sister?'

'They're sleeping. And they could use it. We'll have to try another time.'

'Alright. Mission aborted for now.' 3 joked. 'Besides, it's not like it will take a long time.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of the couples getting together comes up, and things go downhill starting next chapter.


	4. Bonds

The months passed, and the Stitchpunks were able to live in peace. Eventually, the sounds of the war died, along with the world outside. Once this became apparent, 1 allowed the others to explore what they began to call the Emptiness. Whenever someone returned, they would bring more supplies with them. Everyone was able to use what they brought back for something. Some would create weapons and gear for themselves, while others used their findings as decoration and furniture.2, 5, and 16 profited the most from these trips. The three of them created many of the helpful inventions that were used around Sanctuary, which was the name that had been given to their home. They had even managed to create a watchtower and telescope, where 5 would spend most of his time. It was thanks this knowledge that 4 knew she would find him there looking out through the telescope.

'Hey 5! What are you doing?' she clicked. 5 nearly jumped up from fright, being startled by the younger Stitchpunk. When he noticed it was only 4, he calmed down and sighed in relief.

“Oh, 4, it's only you... You shouldn't sneak up on me like that!” he said. “But if you must know, I'm keeping lookout up here like 1 told me to. What else would I be doing?” 5 was a little suspicious of the twins motives. For the past few months, both 3 and 4 had been keeping watch on him for some reason, and would try to get him to do strange things which usually involved 11 in some way.

'I don't know, I was only curious. Hey, can I see what you're looking at?' 4 asked, walking towards the telescope.

5 began to panic. "No! I mean, you wouldn't be interested in what's out there, it's all too quiet. And boring." he said, hoping she would turn away.

4 could see his desperation, it had to be something interesting. Ignoring his attempts to convince her that nothing was out there, she placed her eye on the lens. 11's form instantly came into her sights. She smirked and tried to hold back a giggle, remembering that 11 had gone out to scout and gather more supplies. She knew that her plan was working if he was watching her from afar. 'So, it's 11 that has you so interested does it?' she clicked, knowing that 5 couldn't hide it any longer. He had been caught.

"W-what? N-n-n-no that's n-n-not it, I..." 5 began to stutter, unable to speak. He tried to think of a lie, but he couldn't think of anything that would be able to convince the young twin. He cracked under the pressure, unable to keep it a secret any longer. “Oh alright! It's true! I was watching 11! You caught me!” he confessed. “You're not going to tell her are you?” he asked franticly.

4 shook her hooded head. 'Of course I wouldn't. That is, if you tell me why you were watching her.' she clicked. Although she was certain what his answer would be, she wanted to make sure just in case there was some other reason she might not know about. 5 began to blush nervously. He began to wonder if telling her was a good idea. Then again, he didn't want 11 to think that he was some kind of stalker. After a moment of awkward silence, he looked down the elevator shaft to make sure no one was coming up. With the coast clear, he whispered to 4 even though nobody else could hear him. 4's face lit up with a huge grin hearing his reason. 'Alright then, thanks 5!' she clicked before rushing into the elevator.

Once she was gone, 5 just stood there confused. “What was all that about?” he asked before returning to the telescope. His eye kept watch on the purple Stitchpunk when something else came into view. "Wait a minute, what is that?"

\------------------------------------

11 continued on her journey through the Emptiness, a skate with supplies being pulled behind her. In her free hand was a newly crafted spear. She was enjoying the peace and quiet she had, such things were not so common back in Sanctuary. If it wasn't 1 arguing with someone, it was usually 16 or the twins making noise. Never a moment of peace there. She began to think of 3 and 4, their odd shenanigans never meant a dull moment for her. She was curious about why they were so intent on having her and 5 so close together. Sure, he was a good friend of hers, but she couldn't understand why else they would insist on sticking them together. Before she could guess what they were trying to do, a low growl broke her out of her thoughts.

11 found a tattered blanket and hid the skate under it, not wanting to risk any chances. She went into a defensive stance to prepare herself. She became confused. Nothing was left out here since the war had ended, so what could be making that growl? She looked from side to side in search of sound. She wasn't too far from Sanctuary, but she was still weary. She felt something swipe at her back, flinging her forward and knocking her to the ground. As she got up and attempted to pick up her spear, she turned to see her assailant. Her eyes shank in fear at what was in front of her.

"Creator have mercy."

\-------------------------------------

As 4 came down to the throne room, she heard 15 arguing with 1...again. From the elevator she saw the gray Stitchpunk standing in front of the leader. 6 was standing behind her, holding a drawing with a frantic look on his face. 8 was sitting at his usual spot by 1's throne, waiting to be called upon if necessary. “I don't care what you or that crazy fool claim, there is nothing out there and that is final!” 1 shouted, slamming his staff to the ground. Of course it was vision related. There wasn't much else he got mad over when it came to those two.

“You only say that because you're too stubborn to believe anything that either of us have to say! You're too convinced that we don't know what we're talking about! But I know that if you heard it from one of the others, you would believe them in an instant! And I've told you, 6 isn't crazy!” 15 yelled back, her pen fingers poking at the gem that held his new cape together while she spoke. “If the others keep going into the Emptiness, one of them will be killed! Why do you think the two of us have stayed here this whole time?”

“You forget who you are speaking to, you insolent girl! May I remind you who is letting you two stay here in the first place?”

“2's the reason for that! You were about to throw us out, and he was the one who convinced you to let us stay! It's thanks to him that we've been safe all this time! Though why we continue to stay here, I have no idea! After all, it's apparently safe for us in the Emptiness!”

“For once I can agree with you. I swear, if I hear one more word from either of you about a creature being out there, then I shall have 8 teach both of you a lesson!” With that, 1 turned away and walked back to his throne, while 15 stormed off to her and 6's room. 6 scampered after her, not wanting to stay out in the open and possibly angering the leader or his bodyguard. Someone would need to calm her down anyway. 4 became curious about what this argument had been about. What did she mean that someone would die in the Emptiness? She exited the elevator and walked over to the corner of the artists. She had never been in there before, so when she saw the art on the walls she was amazed. There were drawings of all kinds of subjects, including things she had never seen before. There were even drawings of the other Stitchpunks. She noticed that there was one drawing that seemed to repeat itself. It was a large circle with three odd symbols inside it. Most of the drawings were of just that image.

4 desperately wanted to catalogue the drawings, but that would have to wait until later. She took her eyes off of the walls and looked at the prophets. 15 was trying to draw, obviously to clear her mind of 1's words, while 6 was standing next to her attempting to comfort her. '15? What was all that about?' 4 clicked, hoping to get their attention.

15 looked up from her drawing and looked at 4. “Oh, the usual. The fact that we're crazy, that our visions are a curse. That kind of thing.” she answered, before returning to her artwork.

'No, I mean specifically. What was that about there being something else in the Emptiness?' 4 clicked back.

15 stopped drawing and looked over at 6. 6 simply nodded his head. “Oh. Well, 6 and I had the same vision, and well, 6 why don't you show her the drawing you made?” she said as she stood up. 6 took his drawing and unrolled it, revealing the vision. It was of some kind of creature, something terrifying. It didn't look like anything that had lived before the war though. It looked more like a beast. 4 was frightened from just looking at it.

'And you think it's out in the Emptiness?' 4 clicked.

6 shook his head. “W-we don't think, we k-k-know...” he said, placing the drawing up on the wall with the others.

“But 1 won't even listen to us. Even though we try to warn him...” 15 said, sitting back down. “We're just trying to help our family before something bad happens.”

6 walked back over to 15 and gave her a small hug. “D-don't be s-s-sad. I-if you're sad, I'm sad t-t-too. I don't w-want you t-to be s-sad.” he said. 4 could see that it had some effect, as a smile formed on 15's face. Even though 4 and her brother had hardly been able to work with 6 and 15, it appeared that they didn't need to do anything else. They could focus on 5 and 11, knowing that the prophets were already happy.

"Thanks 6. I'm glad I can rely on you." 15 said. 6 smiled back at her. “Hey 6...? There's something I need to tell you...” 15 began.

"Hm? W-w-what is it F-15?" 6 asked.

4 just watched them, waiting for 15 to say what she just had to hear. “I don't know how to say this. Well, we've known each other for so long, and I believe I can tell you anything. However, I've kept this a secret for a long time. I think...No, I know I'm in lo-” Suddenly, a loud roaring noise could be heard. From the sounds of it, it wasn't too far away from Sanctuary. 15 and 6 both had frightened looks on their faces, and 4 thought she could hear 15 whisper “No...”

“16! Is this another one of your foolish jokes?!” the three heard 1 yell out. Of course he would think that somebody else caused the roar before thinking of the reasonable answer. Though he did have reason to suspect 16, because he did cause trouble when he wasn't working on an invention.

“I didn't do it this time! Honest, Pruney!” 16 yelled back.

“Stop calling me that! And if you didn't do it, than who did?!” 1's head immediately turned over to the dark corner where the prophets resided. “8, I believe we have some business to take care of.” The two began to head over to the corner, ready to punish the artists.

"11! What's happened to you?!"

1 and 8 stopped upon hearing 2's question. 4, 6, and 15 poked their heads out of the corner, worried about what had happened. The five of them all gathered into the bucket elevator and went down to the main floor. Down at the entrance was 11, with 2 and 7 by her side. There was a slight tear in her side, and her body was covered in mud. Her cheek had a rip in it as well. Some of her bead strands were about to fall out. Her spear was about to fall apart. She was panting, trying to hold the tear in her side so it didn't get worse.

“11? What are you doing back here like this?!” 1 demanded to know, only the slightest bit of worry in his voice. "How did you get like this?!"

11 looked up at the elder, her breathing becoming heavy. “1, there's something out there. It attacked me, nearly killed me in the process... Whatever it is, it's after us, Old Man... It's some...kind of....bea...st...” 11 was able to muster before nearly falling to the floor.

2 acted quickly, and was able to catch 11 before she landed on the floor. “11? 11 please answer me! Oh dear, I had better get you fixed up right away! 7, I need you to help me bring her in. 15, go get 5 and 16. I'm going to need all the help I can get here.” 2 ran as fast as he could, and took 11 to the workshop. As he left, 1 glared at him.

The five of them returned back upstairs, all of them a bit shaken up from what happened. 15 decided to bring 6 back to their corner before she went to get the others. “So uh, are we gonna teach dem crazies a lesson or what?” 8 asked as he watched them enter their small piece of the room.

1 turned back to the corner, remembering what 15 had said before. He hated to admit it, but they were right for once. However, it had to be nothing but dumb luck or something. It was impossible that they really did know about that thing. “No 8, not this time. However, I do have business with those two.” he responded, heading back over to the corner. When he entered the room of the prophets, he scanned the walls for the picture of the Beast. Upon finding it, he walked over to it and ripped it right off of the wall. He turned to the artists with a glare in his stare. “You two got lucky. You were right this time, so I'll let it go. I'm not convinced though that you two can see the future. But it will be the only time I will believe you... Now if you''ll excuse me, I need to figure out what to do about this problem.” he said. His business complete, 1 returned to the throne room.

4 knew that enough was enough for today, and went to find her brother and tell him the good news. Meanwhile, the artists just stood there, starring at the place where the vision of the Beast once rested. 6 looked at 15, a sad look across his face. “F-f-f-15, y-you won't l-l-leave will y-you?” he suddenly asked.

15 wondered why he would ask that. She had never thought of leaving, it was the last thing that had ever crossed her mind. She wrapped her arms around 6 and embraced him. “Don't worry 6, I'm not leaving. It'll take much more than 1 to get me to leave.” she reassured him. 15 could see a smile on 6's face.

“T-t-that's g-good...” he said, as he hugged her back. “W-what was it t-t-that you were t-trying to tell m-m-me?”

15 just smiled and said, “Don't worry about it. I'll tell you later. Right now, I have to get 5 and 16.” She ran out of the room and took the elevator up to the watchtower. 6 watched her leave, a worried feeling washed over him. He knew something was going to happen to her, but he couldn't figure out what. Deciding not to linger on it too much, he grabbed a piece of paper and began to draw.

\-------------------------

“11?! What happened?! A-are you alright?!” 5 frantically asked once he entered the workshop.

11 was sitting on the table, all sewn up and cleaned. She laughed a little before she got up, and walked over to 5. “Don't worry 5, I'm fine. It only scratched me. I'm still here right?” she said. 5 was still worried though, he had seen exactly what she had gone up against and had worried about her safety.

“B-but what if your injury had been worse?! What if it had killed you?! What if-” as he imagined the worse possibilities, 11 placed her finger on his mouth to shush him.

“5, you worry too much you know that?” she said. "You need to settle down. What matters is that I'm here and alive. I may have been banged up, but it's gonna take more than a mangy cat to take me down. Alright?"

"Right, sorry." 5 said. "I was just worried about you when I saw that...thing...come up to you like that. I couldn't even come in here to help fix you up because I had thought the worst had happened."

"There's no need to apologize 5, really. You came here now and that's all that matters to me." 11 said.

“You know 11, you really are something else. Which is why I like you.” 5 said as he caught her in a hug. “After all, I don't how I would even be here if it wasn't for you. You're too important to me for me to lose.” He began to blush while she couldn't see his face.

“You really mean that?” 11 asked.

"Of course I do. I haven't lied before, have I?" 5 said.

"No, I guess you haven't." 11 said, beginning to return the hug. The two remained like that for a while before letting go and laughing awkwardly and blushing. "I guess I'll go now. 2 said I needed to get some rest after all that." she said, unable to look at 5.

"Alright, I w-wanted to talk to 16 about something anyway." 5 said. "Good night."

"Night." 11 said as she walked out and went to her room.

Meanwhile, a pair of flashing eyes were watching the two in secret, cataloguing the entire thing. 'This is getting good.' 3 clicked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we have a standard filler chapter. Not much happens here aside from developments of the characters and relationships.


	5. Vanish

Despite the fact that the Beast roamed out in the Emptiness, 1 made the decision to send 7 and 11 on scouting trips, yet no one else was allowed to leave Sanctuary under any circumstances. Many of the others were confused or angered over this choice, such as 5. He was worried about 11. He didn't want to lose the one he cared for the most, not to this Beast. She tried to assure him that she would be fine, but even though he wanted to believe her it was hard to do so. Thankfully he was able to spend plenty of time in the watchtower, where he would check up on her whenever she was sent out. 15 and 6 were also annoyed about their leader's decision. Even though they had been the ones who had warned him about this threat, he refused to listen. Not that this was a surprise to the prophets, but after hearing him say that they were right about the Beast, they thought that he might take a little consideration about the fact that their visions were true. Yet he continued to claim that they were insane. However the one who was angered the most was 7.

“If he knows that this Beast could kill us, then why does he continue to send us out there?!” she questioned, talking with 2 and 11 about the matter. If there was anyone who could figure this out, it was 2. 11 had recently returned from scouting that day and had came to see 2 herself, but she didn't see the harm in joining the conversation.

“I'm afraid that my brothers way of thinking confuses me too, 7.” he answered, pulling out a piece of paper and spread it on the table. “”Why he would continue to send you and 11 is a mystery. He probably has his reasons, even if they don't make sense.”

"Though to be honest, the Old Man is smart to be sending us to do all this scouting." 11 said. "Aside from 8, who's glued to our leader, the two of us are the most capable of defending ourselves. If he was telling someone like 16 or the twins to do it, they couldn't last long." She did have a point. The two females were the best warriors in Sanctuary, so sending them out began to make a little more sense to the white Stitchpunk.

"I suppose you're right about that, but it still doesn't make him right to do it." 7 said. She took notice of the paper 2 had placed on the table and came over to examine it. The only thing that was on the paper was a drawing. It was a kind of circle containing three mysterious symbols in the center of it, and was extremely detailed. “What's this? Another one of 16's crazy inventions?” she asked, unsure of what it was.

2 shook his head. “No, this is the work of 6. He seems to draw this image the most, yet he won't explain why. 15 has drawn it as well, but she doesn't explain what it is either. Curiosity got the best of me, and so I asked for a few of their drawings so I could study them. After all, if they draw it so much it has to have some kind of importance.” he explained. “Unfortunately, I have yet to make any progress in figuring out what it could be.”

“Have you tried asking 16 or 5 for help? Perhaps by working together with them you could figure it out.” 11 suggested. She knew that 2 thought of 5 and 16 as if they were his own sons, and he was always eager to include them in his work.

“Indeed I have. 16 is always too focused in whatever silly little thing he's doing, and 5 has been spending a lot of time with you recently. Which has left me without much help, I'm afraid.” 2 said. Ever since the first Beast attack, 5 would spend most of his free time with the purple Stitchpunk whenever she wasn't scouting. He would still spend time with the elder, but 11 had been the object of his affection and there was no changing that. Ever since that day, he had supported him whenever it came to her. He could see how much he felt about her, and he wanted to see him happy.

"Oh, right." 11 said. "I'm sorry if I'm keeping 5 from helping you out."

"Oh no, don't be." 2 said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "There's nothing you need to apologize for, my dear. I'm glad that he's able to spend time with you. He enjoys your company, and if he's happy then so am I."

“Anyway, back to the problem on hand. 1.” 7 said, trying to return to the original discussion. “We have to get him to stop doing this. 6 and 15 have been saying that bad things will happen if this continues. Perhaps you could convince him that this isn't a good idea? After all, you were able to convince him to let 6 and 15 stay. I'm sure that you'd be able to-”

“My dear, convincing 1 is not an easy thing to do. He's so stubborn about a lot of things. With 6 and 15, I got lucky. It took me a number of tries for him to listen to reason. I don't know if I can do it again, especially considering the subject at hand. Not to mention we do need supplies, and the Emptiness is the only place we can get them.” 2 said.

“Well there must be some way we could-” 7 began to speak, but she stopped upon hearing a loud slamming sound from the upper floor. Without hesitating, 7, 11, and 2 rushed out of the workshop and into the elevator. When they reached the throne room, they saw 15 and 6 lying on the ground, trying to get back up. Not too far away from them was 1 and 8, a smug looking grin on the bodyguard's face. 1 walked over to the prophets and used his staff to lift 15 off the ground by her lock.

“There's no use denying it! I know it was you two that did it, so just admit that you are the culprits and I'll let you off with a warning!” 1 said.

15 could barely speak with the staff right against her neck. “I...told you... We don't...know what you're...talking about...” she said. On the ground, 6 was shaking and trying to tell 1 to put her down. 1 ignored the striped artist as 8 kicked him back to the floor, and pointed to the calender page that was next to the drawing of the Beast that he had taken from them. It had been ripped in the middle, and showed no number past 16. The leader used the calender to keep track of the Stitchpunks that remained. The numbers 10, 12, 13, and 14 had been crossed out. He looked back at the girl, assuming that she now understood what it was they had done.

“You two swiped the bottom half of that page and used it for your fits of insanity! I knew you were crazy, but I never thought you would reduce to the level of stealing just so you could put your madness on paper!” 1 said. Both 15 and 6 looked confused, they had no idea what he was talking about. Neither of them had gone near the calender, much less ripped the page off. They had plenty of paper to last them weeks, they had no need to take some from anybody.

“B-but 1... We didn't do that...” 15 said. “We would never steal something from you... Honest...” Unfortunately, 1 refused to believe her. He used the staff to have her body collide with the wooden floor. 6 was whimpering, unsure of what to do. He couldn't do anything but watch as she was punished for a crime she did not commit.

“Don't toy with me girl! No one else but you two would have any reason to take it! Now confess!” 1 said, making sure that she would stay down.

“I'm telling you, we had nothing to do with it...” 15 insisted.

“Very well, seeing as you continue to be persistent towards lying about it, the only choice I have is to teach both of you a lesson until one of you decides to tell the truth.” 1 turned his head to 8. “Do what you think is necessary.” he ordered. 8 walked over to where 6 lay, and picked him off the ground by his key. 6 cowered in fear at the big brute. He continued to whimper, frozen in his grasp. 15 could only watch, unable to move with the staff still keeping her down. She looked in terror, begging that 1 call him off. Only to have her cry fall on deaf ears as 1 told her that all she needed to do was admit to their crime.

8 balled his hand into a fist, aiming it at 6's face. “That's enough!” 7 yelled out before 8 could strike. “I can't believe that you would do this 1! What kind of leader accuses his own kind without any proof?! They didn't do anything, so let them go!” 1 just stared at her crossly, but did as she asked and removed the staff from 15's neck. As she scrambled back up she grabbed her neck and gasped for air. The elder signaled 8 to let 6 go. He did as he was ordered and let the artist fall to the ground. Upon being released, 6 scurried over to 15 and tried to make sure she wasn't hurt.

“You two got away this time, but mark my words, you shall get the punishment you so rightly deserve.” 1 said before making his leave. 2 and 11 rushed over to 6 and 15 as soon as their leader was out of sight and began to carry them to the elevator. There were no tears in either Stitchpunk's body, but there were signs of minor damage. 7 soon came over to make sure they were alright. She noticed that 15 was slightly more worn out than 6 was, meaning that 1 and 8 had beaten her more than the male prophet. It was always like that it seemed. Whenever they targeted them, 15 would be the one who took the most abuse. She had it. She wasn't going to let 1 get away with this anymore, and there was only one way that she could do it.

\-------------------------------

"Woah, what the heck happened to them?" 16 asked as 2 and 11 brought the prophets into the workshop. "They look like they've been used as chew toys!"

"I'll give you a hint, it's old, wrinkly, and has an ego the size of the Emptiness." 11 said with annoyance. 16 managed to figure it out quickly.

"Geez, I never thought he would beat 'em up this badly. What did they even do to piss him off so much?" 16 asked.

"1 accused them of stealing the bottom half of the calender page without any proof to back him up." 2 answered. "We managed to make it there in time before he could do anything else to them."

16 began to look nervous. "Someone took part of the calender? You don't say!" he said. "Whoever really took it better fess up don't you think?"

11 looked at 16 questioningly. "You wouldn't happen to have anything to do with this, would you 16?" she asked as she set 15 down on the table.

"Who me? Why would you get an idea like that, 11? I don't have a clue as to who did this, so why are you being so persistent about it? I don't know anything!" 16 said in a panic. 11 didn't buy it for a second.

"You were the one who took it aren't you?" she asked.

"Alright, I admit it! I didn't think he was going to care if I took the part of it he wasn't using, so I ripped it off when he wasn't looking!" 16 said, getting down on his knees. "Don't tell him it was me, please! I don't want him to send me out into the Emptiness, I'm too good looking to be cat food!"

"16, my boy, we're not going to tell him." 2 said. "It was a mistake, you couldn't have known what would happen."

"Besides, it's not like I'm mad at you now that you've revealed yourself as the culprit." 15 said. "Though you really should have asked him before you took it, you little idiot." 16 began to pout a little from her teasing. The two of them acted like brother and sister, they would fight at times but they still cared about each other.

"Now, now, both of you settle down." 2 said. "We better focus on fixing you two up. You've been awfully quiet 7. Isn't there anything you want to say about-" He turned to the entrance, but the white Stitchpunk wasn't standing there. "Strange, where could she be?"

\--------------------------------

As 11 and 2 were making sure everything was alright with the artists, 7 decided to go down to her room and get ready for what would be her last move against 1. But before she could get there, she found herself face-to-face with 3 and 4. They had always seen her as a mother, and she treated them like they were her children right back. 'Hey 7!' 3 clicked. 'What are you doing? What's the rush?'

Knowing she couldn't keep anything from them, she decided to tell them the truth. “I'm leaving. Well, technically I'm not leaving until night, but I'm preparing myself now. I can't stand to be anywhere near 1 any longer. All he does is treat us like lowlifes, and I'm not going to take it any longer. This will be the last time he ever sees me around here.” she explained. 3 and 4 looked terrified.

'You're just going to leave and never come back?! Does this mean we're never going to see you again?! But what about us?! You're not just going to leave us are you?!' Both twins clicked, becoming frantic with worry.

7 looked at their worried faces, realizing that she couldn't just leave them here with 1. She was the only one protecting them from his crazy actions. If she abandoned them, they wouldn't survive. “No, you two will be coming with us. There's no way I'm going to let 1 do whatever he wants with you once I've left. Hurry up and pack your things, we're leaving at nightfall once everyone's asleep.” she said. Smiles went across the twins' faces, and they embraced their mother figure in a hug. 7 couldn't help but laugh at the way they were behaving. “Alright you two, now go get ready.” The two began to run off to their room, 7 looking back at them with a smile.

They arrived in their room and began packing everything in there they could take. They didn't have too many belongings, so it was relatively easy. However, in the middle of it, 4 stopped and just stood in thought. 'What's the matter sister? Why did you stop?' 3 asked.

'It's just that 7 said that we would be coming with them. Meaning she isn't the only one who's leaving. I wonder who she was talking about?' 4 clicked to her brother.

'I'm sure that we'll find out tonight. Don't worry about it. Now come on! Let's get to packing!' 3 clicked, too excited to think straight. Although she returned to packing their various things, 4 couldn't help but feel that something was wrong about this.

\----------------------------

That evening, once everyone was asleep, 3 and 4 waited outside their old rooms for 7 and whoever else was coming with them. The female twin still couldn't shake off the feeling that things about this were off. Her brother on the other hand was excited as could be, practically jumping up and down where he stood. When they only saw the white Stitchpunk approach them 4 became confused. She knew that 7 had said there was someone else coming with them. '7?' she clicked, 'Where is the other one who's supposed to be coming with us?'

“We're going to go and get her now. Let's go, and be quiet.” 7 answered. Upon hearing her say that they were about to get her, both twins got a sinking feeling. Besides 4 and 7, there were only two other girls, both of which they had worked so hard to make them happy with the ones they cared for. Which meant that no matter who they were bringing with them, she would be taken from the family she cared for. Possibly forever. “Hurry up!” they heard 7 call from the elevator. Slowly, they walked to the elevator. The white Stitchpunk quietly began to raise the elevator so she wouldn't alert anyone and wake them up. As it rose higher and higher, the twins began wondering if they could convince her to let whoever they were getting stay here. But not wanting to risk her finding about their plan, they remained silent. When they reached the top, they found 8 and 1 fast asleep, which is exactly what 7 had hoped for. She silently headed over to the corner where the artists resided, and 4 knew that everything had gone from bad to worse.

When the three entered the small alcove, 4 noticed that something was different. Over half of the drawings that had been scattered on the wall were gone, leaving blank spots where they once were. 7 looked on the ground, expecting to find 15 lying asleep next to 6, but she wasn't there. When she began to hear the sounds of something moving across paper, she knew that 15 was already awake. She found her crouching down on the ground, her fingers moving across the paper. Only this time she wasn't drawing something, she was writing.

15 looked up from the paper, a disheartened look on her face. “I know why you're here, and I know that I can't convince you otherwise.” she said dejectedly as she rolled up the sheet of paper. “And I know that I can't get you to take anyone else with me.” 7 wasn't expecting this from her. She was usually more determined, she never gave up this easy. But 7 remembered that she could see into the future, and just like she had said there was no way to convince her otherwise. Her mind was made up. It was then that 4 realized why the drawings on the wall had been taken down, 15 had removed all of her drawings and packed them up. Seeing the female artist unhappy like this made both twins feel guilty, even though they weren't doing anything. It felt like all their hard work was being thrown away. They had tried so hard to make her happy, and now she was being taken away without a choice.

“Well, if you already know why I'm here, then let's get going.” 7 said, heading for the exit.

“Wait, there's one thing I have to do before we leave.” 15 said.

"Alright, but make it quick." 7 said. "We need to leave as soon as possible."

15 placed the rolled up paper up against the wall, and walked over to the sleeping 6. She ruffled his yarn hair, a sad smile on her face. “I'm sorry about all this. Please don't take it the wrong way alright? Someday you'll be able to forgive me, I know it. I wish I could tell you how I feel about you, but I'm afraid that's not possible.” she whispered. 6 whimpered in his sleep and muttered something before turning around. “Never forget me...” she whispered. She stood up, grabbing a bag full of drawings. “Alright... Let's go...”

On the way back down, the twins looked at the sad 15 with heavy hearts. It looked like she was trying to hold back crying. They never wanted this. If they had the ability to do so, they would've let her stay here where she was clearly happy. All they could do is try to comfort her whenever they finally reached their destination.

Once they were outside, 15 was the only one to look back at the tall building which she had called home. She was leaving everyone. Her family, her friends, her love. Everyone that she cared for was being left there while she escaped without a word. But deep inside she didn't feel like she was escaping, she felt like she was just being locked up.

“Goodbye everyone...”

\---------------------------

The next morning, 6 woke up from what he thought was the worst sleep he ever had. Eyes still drowsy, he didn't see 15 next to him and assumed that she was already awake. “F-f-15? A-are you awake a-already?” he asked, waiting for her to answer. But there was no response. “F-15?” he called out, waiting for the fellow prophet to answer him. His vision became clearer, and he realized that she wasn't in the room at all. “15?” He began to panic. She never left the room before he woke up. “F-15!” he cried out, desperate. He got up the ground, and turned around to face the wall, his face turning blank. Where there were drawings and visions the day before, only blank spots remained. All the missing drawings were hers, he could tell.

6 began to panic, his breathing getting heavier and his hands shaking. He sank to the ground and held his head with his hands. “F-15!!!” he yelled out, hoping that this time, he would get an answer. But only silence came. She was gone. The one who he had opened up to, the one who helped him, the one he could never imagine living without, was gone forever. He fell down to the ground completely and curled up in a small ball. Nothing was left of her, the only thing that remained was the key around his neck, the one she had given him when they met. He looked up at the wall one last time, noticing something.

One of her drawings was still there. It was the first one. The one they had worked on when they came to this place before they had met any of the others. Only it remained. It was the only proof that she had been here “G-g-gone... 15 is gone...” he clenched his key and went back into a ball. “C-come back... P-p-please... Come b-back... Y-y-you promised you w-wouldn't leave me...” he mumbled to himself as he began to sob. “Come b-b-back... I n-n-need you... I-I l-love you...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things will only go downhill from now on.


	6. Nights

Everyone in Sanctuary was awakened by 6's cries. They all headed upstairs to his corner, wondering what could be wrong with him. 8 and 1 were the only ones who were not worried about the artist, they wanted to know why he had woken them up with his insane screams. They all looked inside the dark corner to find him huddled into a ball on the floor, sobbing into his hands. 5 and 11 were the first to approach the distressed Stitchpunk, wondering why 15 wasn't there comforting him. “6? 6, what's the matter? Why are you lying here like this?” 11 asked, lightly shaking his shoulder. He flinched from the sudden contact and looked up from his hands, seeing 11 and 5 sitting in front of him. He didn't respond to her question, and continued to sob a little. “Shhh, it's alright 6. You can tell me what's wrong. Everything will be alright once you tell me what's happened.” she said. He got up from the floor and looked at her as if she had said something peculiar.

“N-no. It w-won't be a-a-alright.” 6 said, trying not to cry. “N-now that s-s-s-she's gone. N-nothing will be a-alright. N-n-never again.”

“Now that who's gone?” 5 asked, trying to help.

“F-f-f-15...” 6 said before breaking back out into sobs. 5 and 11 looked at each other, unsure of what to make of this. They assumed he meant that 15 had left for a moment before he had the chance to wake up or something along those lines. Though it didn't explain why he was freaking out so much. They looked back at the artist as he continued to cry.

“Well, I'm sure that she'll be right back. She'll turn up eventually.” 11 said, trying to comfort the prophet. But she was unaware of the big picture.

“N-no. 15's n-not coming b-b-back.” 6 said between sobs. "S-s-she's left m-me! L-left us!" 11 and 5 began to understand just what he was saying, and so did everyone else. Most of the others were confused and worried. It was unlike 15 to just leave, especially without telling anybody. Why would she do such a thing? And why wouldn't she have told 6 about it? However, two Stitchpunks were happy about this sudden disappearance, as a dark chuckle showed.

“Good riddance. Now with that troublesome nonsense spouter gone, perhaps things will become more peaceful around here.” 1 said, a look of victory on his face. “And now that I notice, she isn't the only one missing.” Everyone looked around to see that he was right. 7 and the twins were nowhere to be seen. It hit them that no one had seen any of them leave their rooms, and there was no way that they could have slept through 6's screams. “It looks like 15 lead 7 and the twins away from Sanctuary on some wild goose chase. Most likely for that 'Source' thing she and that fool over there are always blabbering on about. But with the Beast out there I doubt they will survive long enough to find it, if it even exists. She's led them to their deaths, including her own.” 6, who was already hysteric enough, became terrified and grabbed onto his key while he tried to hold back his frantic sobs. 2 came to his side and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. 6 didn't even seem to notice.

“Now wait just a second, Old Man! You have no right to assume that this was all 15's doing, or why she even left in the first place! 15 would _never_ do something like this! That's not what she's like! And I know that anyone else here would vouch for me!” 11 said. “And for all we know, they could still be alive!”

1 turned away from the determined woman and looked up at the stained glass window, one of the few sources of light in the room. “And are you ready to prove that theory of yours? She told nobody where she went. She told nobody why she left. She told nobody that she would come back. She didn't even tell the madman about it.” he said, referring to 6. 11 was about to retaliate, but she couldn't on the fact that he was right. 15, or any of the others, never said anything about leaving to anyone. She hadn't even told 6, who she was the closest to. 11 couldn't argue with his logic, even though she wanted to. “Just as I thought.” he said.

He walked past 11 and over to the ripped calender. Taking a burnt out match, he scratched out the numbers 3, 4, and 7 without hesitation. Before he scratched out 15, he looked back at the remaining Stitchpunks. “This is why the rules must be followed. Listening to them was a huge mistake, and will lead to our demise.” he said. His eyes turned to 6, who was shaking in fear and trying not to sob. 1 grinned as he slowly scratched out the number 15. "From now on, I expect all of you to do as I say without question. Fail to listen will result in punishment. My first order of business is that searching for any of them is forbidden. As far as we are concerned, they are dead. Now then, return to your duties. We are done here."

As the other four slowly entered the elevator to head downstairs, 1 looked over at the remaining prophet. He was still distraught with grief over everything and refused to move. 1 walked over to him, blocking out the light. "Now listen here, I want no more of this nonsense from you, understand? No more insistence about this 'Source' or anything else you may draw down out of madness. If I hear one word about such things from you, I will have 8 use force without hesitation. And don't think you can hide behind anyone either. You have no one here to defend you anymore. You were foolish to trust in her. After all, she just went and _abandoned_ you here now didn't she?"

At that moment, something in 6 snapped. His sadness and depression turned into fury and anger. The artist lunged at the elder leader, pinning him to the ground.

"N-n-never talk about F-f-f-15 that way again." he said, his voice a mix between anger and sadness.

6 let the elder go and got up off of him so that he could stand. 1 scrambled to his feet in a hurry. He tried to regain his composure and scowled at the artist. "So, I see you are mad in more ways than one." he said.

"L-l-leave. Now." 6 said.

1 turned and left the artist's alcove, not because he had been told to, but because he figured he had done enough. It was best to let the artist sit in his own misery. It was almost too easy.

\----------------------------

11 and 16 went down to 7 and the twins' rooms, just to make sure that they truly were gone. Upon entering, they found them completely empty. They looked untouched, as if no one had even used them. There wasn't a single trace left. It was as if they had just vanished.

“Why would they just leave like that?” 5 said. He was standing in the workshop with 2, 11, and 16. “7, I can understand, but the other three... they just wouldn't leave like this. Especially 15. She would never do such a thing, at least not without 6.” He was right, ever since he woke up in Sanctuary he usually saw the two of them together. At first it was because 15 was the only one 6 could truly trust, but as time passed it became more than that. He didn't need two eyes to see that.

“I'm not sure, but maybe with them gone, Pruney will loosen up a little.” 16 tried to joke, even though 15 was gone. However he missed her more than he let on. No matter how many times he had annoyed her, he still loved her. After all, she was family.

“16, this is not the time to be making jokes like that. This is a serious issue. Who knows what could happen to them out there.” 2 said. He too thought of 15 as family. She was like a daughter to him, he couldn't help but worry about her. As for 7 and the twins, he feared for them too. While he knew 7 could defend herself against the Beast, 3 and 4 were defenseless. If they came face to face with it, they wouldn't stand a chance. And hearing 1 just say that they were dead made his heart sink.

“We can't just sit here and imagine what might happen. We have to do something! After going head to head with that Beast myself, I can say that fighting it off isn't easy.” 11 said. “Besides, the longer 15 is gone, the worse 6's condition will become.”

“But 1 forbade us from searching for them. And if he finds out that we're breaking his rules, who knows what will happen!” 5 said. He never argued with 11, but he was doing it only to keep her safe from 1's wrath. She remembered that the leader had forbidden them from searching the Emptiness. He thought it was a waste of time to search for those who were lost. If they were alive, they would come back on their own.

“So that's it? We just let 1 have his way? We just let him win? If they are alive then we shouldn't just stand here!” 11 said. 5 walked to her side, trying to comfort her the best he could.

“11, there just isn't much of a choice. The most we can do is keep watch for them using the telescope.” 5 put his hand on her shoulder as she sighed in defeat. 2 on the other hand, had other plans. He wasn't about to let his brother get away with this so easily.

\--------------------------------

6 continued sulking in his room, hoping that drawing would ease his mind. He needed a distraction from 1's words from earlier. All he wanted was to forget everything he had said. He pulled out a blank piece of paper and a jar of ink. As he drew, he tried to clear his thoughts. But no matter how hard he tried, his mind kept coming back to the same thing. On the paper in front of him, lied the figure of 15. It looked just like her, down to the tiniest detail. Even her expression was accurate. “W-w-why...?” he whispered. He took the new drawing and placed it on the wall, right next to the only drawing of hers that remained.

He just stared at the drawing. Why would she do this to him? Why would she just leave? She promised him she would stay here, so why would she...

Confusion and anger overtook him. He ripped the drawing of her off the wall and crumpled it into a ball. He couldn't bear to look at it. All it did was make him hurt inside. Maybe 1 was right, maybe he was a fool for thinking he could trust her. She meant the world to him and she just left without saying a word. What an idiot he had been!

He hadn't even realized he had been taking his drawings off of the wall and ripping them apart. Once he did realize it, he just kept doing it anyway. What good were these visions if nobody believed him about them? He was useless. A broken fool who couldn't help anyone if he tried.

He was about to grab another piece of paper off of the wall when something in the corner of his eye caught his interest. It was a lone sheet of paper, rolled up and propped against the wall. 6 hadn't seen that paper before, so he took it and unrolled it, to discover what could be drawn on it. However, there was no drawing, there was a letter.

_I will live and return to you. Watch for the arrival of the 9th. I am truly sorry, but do not fall into despair no matter what happens._

That was all it said, yet it gave 6 a little bit of hope. He knew who had written it, and he knew that it meant she was alive. He rolled the letter back up and placed it where he had found it. All he had to do was wait, and he would wait for as long as he needed to. But what did she mean by "the 9th"? He guessed the only way he would find out the answer was to be patient. He looked back at the crumpled up drawing and picked it back up. He tried to straighten it back out to the best of his ability, and hung it back on the wall. Now it would serve as a reminder that she would come back. After taking the ripped up pieces and placing them in a small paper, he grabbed a blank sheet of paper and tried to draw once again.

\---------------------------------

2 exited the bucket elevator and began to approach his brother's throne. 1 looked at him puzzled as he came closer. "And what do you want?" he asked.

"If you'll allow me 1, I wish to ask you something of importance." 2 said.

"If you're about to suggest that I allow you to search for the deserters..." 1 began.

"Oh no, brother!" 2 quickly made clear. "You made it absolutely clear that searching for them was forbidden. No, I came to ask something else of you."

"Very well, but make it quick." 1 said.

"Well, since 7 has left us, that means there's a need for another scout isn't there?" 2 asked. "I know that no matter what, you wouldn't have 11 go out all the time."

“You're kidding right?” 1 asked his brother, a look of shock on his face. “And here I thought that 6 was crazy. _You_ actually want to take 7's place?”

2 nodded his head. “No one else will do it, and I know you're not going to have 8 do it. Besides, I would have thought that this is something you would have wanted.” he said. 1 took some deep thought into what 2 said and realized that he was right. This was the perfect opportunity to get rid of the biggest thorn in his side.

“Very well then. Starting tomorrow, you shall take over 7's scouting shifts. And you can't back out of this now that you have accepted!” 1 said.

2 just simply nodded his head, and went on his way. Everything was going as he had planned. Now he could search for the others as much as he needed to. The only problem that remained, was to keep this secret from 5 and 16.

\---------------------------------

Months passed, and there had been no sign of 7, the twins, or 15. Nobody but 1 and 2 knew about his scouting trips, and that was how it was going to stay. 5 and 16 spent their time in the watchtower, hoping to find the missing Stitchpunks, but always came up empty handed. 6 never left his room for anything, which worried the others. 11 would continue to scout, but never found much to bring back. 5 would spend time with her whenever he wasn't searching from the watchtower. Everyone was beginning to believe that 7 and the others really were dead, but 6 insisted that they lived. However, no one listened to him. He felt alone ever since 15 had left. And slowly, he was beginning to think that she might not come back. He tried to dismiss that thought as hard as he could, but it wasn't easy.

“Forget it 16. We've been searching for months and still found nothing. And now that 2 keeps disappearing, I don't know what to do. We should give up.” 5 said one day, while 16 was searching with the telescope.

“Aw, come on 5! You're really just going to give up like that? Have more faith!” 16 said, trying to lift up the one-eyed Stitchpunk's spirit. "Besides, quitting is for losers! And do you really want to be a loser?"

“But 16, we haven't even found a single hint that they might be alive. Maybe 1 is right. We're probably just wasting our time searching for the dead.” 5 said.

“Geez 5, you give up way too-Wait! I see something!” 16 said, a tone of certainty in his voice. “5, you're gonna want to see this.” he moved away from the telescope, allowing 5 to look. Unsure that 16 had really found something, 5 walked over to the telescope and looked through it. He saw something move. It wasn't the Beast though, it was a Stitchpunk, that was certain. He tried zooming in to get a closer look. It wasn't one that he recognized, but it was holding it's arm in pain before it collapsed. 5 moved away from the telescope and looked over at 16.

“Come on, we have to help them!” 5 said with worry as he rushed to the elevator.

"Alright, finally some action around here!" 16 said as he followed his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we end the first half of the story and move on to what I like to call Book 2. We also go into the events of the movie.


	7. Arrival

11 ran into the workshop, relieved to find 5 there with 16. She had gotten worried when she had seen the two of them run out into the Emptiness. Not only because they could have been seen by the Beast, but because if 1 knew what they were doing the punishment could have been severe. “5, 16! Thank goodness you're here. I was worried that something might have happened to-” She stopped, noticing the Stitchpunk lying on the table. He was made of burlap, the same substance as 5. At first glance, he looked just like 5 before he had lost his eye. The only difference was that instead of buttons, a zipper went across his chest. After taking a closer look, she noticed that his left arm was sewn by different colored thread than his right arm. 11 turned around, noticing the scissors in 5's hands. “Wh-who is this? What happened to him?” she asked, looking back at the Stitchpunk on the table.

“No idea!” 16 answered. “We just found him like that, except his arm was just dangling there. He was already unconscious, so we don't know who the heck he is or where he spawned from. If _I_ hadn't brought him back, he would've been kitty chow!”

5 shook his head slowly. “ _We_ brought him back 16, it wasn't just you.” he said. 16 just rolled his eyes. “But he is right. Who knows what would've happened if we just left him there. It looked like he had gotten in some kind of fight, yet for some reason the Beast didn't take him. I wonder why that is.”

“Huh, never would've thought that there was one more of us running around. But you know, the old man isn't going to be happy when he finds out that you brought an outsider here. After all, he was so welcoming to any unexpected additions such as myself.” 11 said. "Though it is strange that the Beast just left him there, you'd think that it would find him as fresh meat."

“1, shmone! We can handle him! He's a piece of cake to deal with!” 16 said with his trademark idiotic grin.

“You just keep telling yourself that 16...” 5 said.

"Why isn't 2 helping you with this? Surely he would be willing to help this guy in an instant, right?" 11 asked, noticing the lack of the kinder elder.

"Your guess is as good as mine." 5 said. "He's just disappeared again without a trace. If I could find him then I'd ask for his help in an instant. You know that. 16 has been a good help though, don't get me wrong. Anyway, I plan on telling 1 about him once I've finished with his arm. I'm sure that something can be worked out. Hopefully." He walked over to the unconscious Stitchpunk with the scissors in hand, ready to cut off the remaining strand of thread on his arm. Little did he know that the Stitchpunk was waking up...

\---------------------------------

9's eyes slowly blinked open, taking in his new surroundings. No longer was he in the wastelands, but in some kind of room he had never seen. Strange tools hovered above him, making him a bit nervous. As he wondered how he ended up here, a one-eyed Stitchpunk came at him with a large pair of scissors. Panicked, he yelled out and grabbed the scissors, throwing them out of the one-eye's grasp and causing them to nearly hit two other Stitchpunks. “Hey! Watch it you crazy manic!” the light gray Stitchpunk said after jumping away. "You could have impaled that into me!"

9 fell off the table in an attempt to walk away, landing on the ground. “It's alright. You're safe now.” the one-eyed Stitchpunk said, helping him back onto the table.

“The question is, are _we_ safe? This guy has to have a few screws loose or something!” the gray Stitchpunk said, who 9 assumed was called 16 from the number on his chest. The purple Stitchpunk slapped him in the back of the head.

“Don't mind him. He always acts like that. He doesn't know just when to act seriously.” she explained. 16 looked irritated by her comment, but didn't say anything in return.

“So, where am I?” 9 asked.

“With us.” the one-eye said. 9 looked at his back and saw the number 5, assuming that was his name. He removed the scissors from the floor and brought them back towards the newcomers arm. “I never expected to see another one.” As he came closer, 9 flinched, though it turned out he was only removing the loose piece of thread that was hanging from his arm. “There. That should hold.” he said, returning the scissors to their place on the wall. 9 looked down at his arm; it looked good as new, you could barely tell it had been ripped open. “If 2 were here, he would've done a better job, he's had more experience with these kind of injuries than I do. I wonder where he's gone to...” 5 said.

9 stopped looking at his arm and perked his head up. He had met the elderly Stitchpunk, and knew what had happened to him. “I was with him.” he said. All the eyes in the room were on him at that instant. this new Stitchpunk had met 2? but how?

“2? Where? Out there? Was he-” 5 began. Before any of his questions could be answered, or if any others could be asked, a voice came from the doorway.

“Keeping secrets from me I see.” the Stitchpunk said. He wore some kind of hat and cape, giving him the appearance of a high authority figure. There was a small coin wrapped around the hat with the number 1 on it. In his hands was an odd kind of staff. He walked into the room towards 9.

“I was just coming to tell you-” 5 said, trying to explain, only to be pushed aside by 1's staff. The purple Stitchpunk, called 11, gave 1 a small glare. She then looked at 5 with a worried glance, almost as if to say "I told you so". 16 tried to hide his fear from the leader, hoping to feign innocence.

“What's this?” 1 asked. He used his staff to turn 9 around and look at his number.

“We-we found him... In the Emptiness...” 5 hesitantly explained. 1's eyes got wide, while 11 stood there in shock. She hoped that 5 would have come up with a lie of some kind to keep 1 from getting mad, but at the same time she knew that he simply wasn't brave enough to stand up to him.

“You, what?!” 1 said, turning towards 5. “What were you doing out there? You'll lead the Beast straight back to us! How many times have I told you?!” he questioned as he walked closer to him. 5 just stood there as 1 came closer, stuttering as he tried to explain.

“1, that's enough! His intentions were good, he just wanted to help him.” 11 said. The leader only glared at her and pushed her away, ignoring her words.

"You would do well to stay out of this, girl. Unless you aided him in this act then I have no business with you!" he said.

“Hey, she didn't do anything!” 16 said, a rare moment where he was acting serious. But 1 ignored him as well.

“The Beast!” 9 said, once again gaining the attention of everyone in the room. “That's what took 2! If we hurry, we can still save him!” Unfortunately, he didn't know that saying that would seal 2's fate in the eyes of the leader.

1 turned away from 5 and over to the newcomer. “If the Beast took him, that's the end of it.” he said.

“But he was still alive!” 9 tried to explain, not knowing about 1's stubborn attitude. It didn't make sense to him why he wouldn't want to save one of his own kind.

“No! We have rules!” 1 said, slamming his staff on the ground. At that moment, another Stitchpunk entered the room. This one was much larger than the others and held a sword in his hand. His number, 8, was written on his arm. 1 turned to him, a smirk on his face. “Our new guest seems confused. Perhaps I can help him achieve some clarity.” he said, looking back at 9. He walked out of the room, the smirk still on his face. 8 picked up his sword in his hand, and made a motion with his head for the others to move.

11 headed out the door and said, “That went well. Just like I knew it would.” She looked back at 5 and let out a disappointed sigh. 5 looked down at the ground disheartened. Now his mentor was missing as well.

5, 9, and 16 slowly followed behind her. 9 looked up at 8 on his way out, only to have the gargantuan Stitchpunk snort at him. Once he exited the room, 9 was able to get a better look at the building he had been brought to. The floor they were on was covered in debris and pieces of the building. There was a large hole in the ceiling caused by an airplane that had crashed.

“It didn't kill him?” 5 asked nervously.

"Is it really as ugly as-" 16 began to say.

“Quiet.” 8 bellowed behind them, pushing them with his sword. They reached an elevator, and before 9 could get in, 8 pushed him against 5, laughing as he did it. 9 regained his footing and held onto the edge of the elevator.

“You might wanna hold on.” 16 said. The elevator jerked as it began to ascend. 11 stood away from 5, still unsure how to react to all of this. 5 looked over at her apologetically, unsure of anything else he could do to fix things. 11 managed to smile back at him, while 16 was trying to hold back snickers. 1 bopped his head with the staff, silencing the immature inventor. 9 could only look upwards as the elevator ascended higher, seeing the sunlight shining through. He looked over at 1, who stared at him with a sinister look.

They finally reached the top. 1 was the first to exit as he opened the doorway, with 8 staying close to him. The others followed in silence, entering a small throne room. 9 was amazed at the sight. He hadn't thought such a place existed in the dead world he had awakened to. He turned his head to a small dark corner, feeling as if he was being watched. However, there was no one there. He began to wonder what was hidden in there, until 1 placed a hand on his shoulder.

“When we woke in this world, it was chaos.” 1 began pointing to the giant clock above them.

“Oh great, not this story again.” 16 said as he rolled his eyes.

1 glared at the inventor. “May I continue without your ridiculous commentary?!” he asked. 16 nodded his head with a stupid looking expression. “Thank you. Now where was I... Ah yes! Man and machine attacked each other with fire and metal...”

\----------------------------

6 sat in his lonely corner, drawing on a piece of paper as usual. His mind was troubled, all of his recent visions had been dark and frightening. Only a scant few were even remotely pleasant. He just wanted them to go away, he wished things would go back to the way they were supposed to be. Nothing was in balance since that day. He could tell that everyone else was unhappy. He knew that 2 was going out into the Emptiness. He realized what that would do to the rest of their kind. Sanctuary would not last.

6 snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the elevator rise up. He remembered seeing 5 and 16 sneaking out some time earlier, and saw 1 and 8 go down a moment ago. Something important had happened, he had to find out what it was. He looked past the curtain that covered part of his corner, seeing all the members of Sanctuary walking into the room. 2 wasn't there, but someone else was. It wasn't anyone he recognized, but what he saw on his back intrigued him.

The number 9.

6 ducked back into the darkness as 9 began to look over in his direction. It was him. It was really him. He looked around the room, searching for something. Finally, he found it. The letter. He grabbed the rolled up sheet of paper, looking at the note from long ago. It had said that he must watch for the 9th. Was this Stitchpunk the 9th she spoke of in this letter? What connection did he have to her?

1 began to tell the newcomer the story of how they came here. 6 wasn't paying attention to what was being said however, it had nothing to do with him. He hadn't been there when it all happened. He had been with her. The only time he ever saw her anymore was in his dreams-or rather nightmares, his visions, or on the pieces of paper which he had sketched her image upon. He looked at the crumpled paper on the wall, gently placing his hand on it. He believed this was a sign. A sign that things were about to change. As 1 finished his story, 6 returned to his drawings. “S-source... G-g-go back...to t-the Source...” he mumbled.

\----------------------------

“The gas killed everything.” 1 said as his tale came to a close. He picked up a match and lit it up, giving the more darker areas of the room some light. “I led us here, to Sanctuary, and here we waited for the war to end. Slowly the world became silent. The only thing that remains now...” he pointed the match to a drawing of some kind of creature. “...Is the Beast. So we stay hidden, and we wait for it too, to sleep.” The match he was holding burned out almost in synch with 1's words.

“But where did it come from? Why is it hunting us?” 9 asked.

“Questions like that, are pointless!” 1 said, refusing to answer his questions. “We need to protect ourselves! Keep ourselves out of danger! Too many of us, have already been lost...” He walked over to a calender page that had the numbers 3, 4, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15 crossed off. Using the match, he crossed off the number 2.

“But he isn't lost.” 9 said. 1 just grunted and turned the other way. “Why aren't you listening to me?!” 9 asked, reaching out for 1.

“2 chose his own path!!!” 1 yelled back at him. “I suggest you avoid making the same mistake.” 5 came up to 9 and held onto his arm, while 16 just stood by them. “Go to the watchtower, and take our _guest_ with you.” 1 instructed to the two Stitchpunks standing by 9.

As the three of them headed towards the elevator, 11 walked over to them. “Don't let the old man get to you 9. He treats all of us that way. However, there are those he treats worse than others...” she said, turning her head towards the dark corner. “Anyways, I'm sure that you'll fit right in here. Just give it some time and you'll see. Talk to you later.” With that, 11 went on her own way.

“Look out 5, I think 9 here is going after your girlfriend.” 16 joked.

5's face turned green as he blushed. “16! That isn't funny!” he said. 16 had burst into laughter at his reaction. 9 looked confused, having no idea what the two of them were talking about. "Besides, she's not my, uh, girlfriend."

1 sat down in his throne, watching as the three entered the elevator, 6's humming faintly coming from the corner. “Perfect. I get rid of one nuisance, and another just happens to come along.”

\-----------------------------

The three entered the watchtower, having been completely silent since talking with 1. 5 went straight over to the telescope, looking at it in sadness. “This is the first thing we ever built together...” he said.

“You know, we could always ditch this place and go look for him.” 16 said.

“16, that's a terrible idea! We could get caught!” 5 said. 16 crossed his arms in defeat.

“No, he's right. We could go after him.” 9 said. 16 was surprised by his words. No one had ever taken his ideas seriously before.

“But he could be anywhere out there. We don't even know where to look.” 5 said.

9 looked out at the edge of the watchtower as he searched for where he saw the Beast head for. “That's where it took him! Out toward those three tall shapes!” he said, pointing to a tall figure in the distance. 16 walked over to the edge to see where he was pointing to, while 5 looked through the telescope to get a closer look. Once he realized what shapes 9 was talking about, his face turned white.

“Oh no! We can't, not there!” 5 said, looking away from the telescope. “We have rules.”

9 walked over to 5. “Why do you listen to 1?” he asked.

“I've been asking myself that since day one!” 16 said.

“A group must have a leader.” 5 answered, ignoring what 16 had just said.

“But what if he's wrong?” 9 asked. “Come with me.”

5 let out a sigh. He wanted to help 2, but at the same time he was afraid of what 1 and 8 would do to him. “I-I can't...” he said.

“But wouldn't he have come for you?” 9 said as he pat 5 on the back, before heading towards the elevator.

“He's right you know.” 16 said. “He would come if it was you, or if it was any of us for that matter. Especially if it was you, me, or her...” 5 knew who he was talking about. He slowly touched the patch on his eye, remembering all that 2 had ever done for them. "I don't know about you, but I'm taking this chance. I don't care if I get in trouble for it. At least I went to help him." 9 and 16 were about to head down to begin their search, until 5 spoke up.

“Wait!” he said, picking up a paper from the table. “We're going to need a map.”

9 smiled. 16 rose his arms into the air before picking up a small round item. “All right! Road trip!”


	8. Search

11 had been sharpening her spears on the ground floor, thinking about all that had happened. A new Stitchpunk, she had never imagined seeing that in a million years. The news about 2 had been shocking as well. Just how long had 1 been sending him out there? More questions entered her mind when she heard the elevator coming down. She turned her head to see 5, 16, and the newcomer 9 coming out and heading for the exit. "Wait a minute, where do you think you're going?" she said, grabbing 5 by the arm.

5 sighed, deciding to give her the truth. "We're going to rescue 2." he said.

11's eyes went wide. "What?! But you heard the Old Man's orders, you're not supposed to leave! He's already sore at you about going out once, who knows what he'll do to you if he finds out you pulled this off!" she said.

"11, I can't just sit here and leave 2 to die." 5 said. "We've lost too may of us already, and I regret not going after them every day. I'm not going to regret leaving him as well." 5 said. "Why don't you come with us? I know you don't agree with 1 and his rules, so why wait here?"

"5, no." 11 said, her voice turning cold. "I wish I went out to find them too, but the truth is that they're gone and there's nothing we can do to get them back. If they were still alive they would've come back by now. And just because I don't agree with 1's rules doesn't mean I'm about to run off on a crazy rescue mission."

"Well it might be crazy, but at least I'm doing what's right." 5 said before continuing on his way out. 9 and 16 stood there for a moment, unsure of how to respond. The two just followed 5 to the exit.

11 watched as they walked away. "You're just chasing after the dead. Why can't you just move on?" she said, returning to her spears.

\---------------------------------

"Actually, I don't mind having one eye." 5 explained to 9 as they walked. "It's easier. Allows me to concentrate on one thing at a time, you know?"

“Are we there yet?” 16 complained. It had only been an hour since they had left and already he was causing trouble for 9 and 5. “We need to be faster if we're going to make it in time! I know! Maybe if I make this really awesome automobile of some kind, we can get there in an instant! Then we can save 2 twice as fast!” 16 ran off to look in the nearest pile of junk he could find.

“Does he always act like this?” 9 asked, looking at 5.

“Unfortunately...” 5 sighed. "He's impossible for me to control. At least on my own."

The two continued on their way, while 16 kept stopping so he could pick up pieces of junk. He claimed that they were for an invention that could get them there faster. Eventually, 5 told him to lose the junk before they left him behind. Disappointed, he sulked behind as they went on. “Don't worry, he'll be over it in a few minutes.” 5 told 9. And he was right. Soon after he had gotten in that mood, he was out of it and began blabbering on about something else. 9 and 5 just ignored him though. “Say 9, did you see anybody else when you were out here?” 5 asked out of nowhere.

“Um...no. 2 was the only one I saw.” 9 answered.

“Oh. I see.” 5 said, his head hanging down.

"I'm sorry 5, really I-" 9 tried to say.

"Don't worry about it. It was a silly question to begin with." 5 said.

Eventually, the three came across the area where 9 had last seen 2. “And we return to the scene of the crime!” 16 said. “Search the area for evidence!” 16 ran off, leaving 5 and 9 to examine the overturned skate. All the items that had been placed on it had scattered around the area. The mechanic gasped upon noticing an item. 9 looked over to see him holding an old black lock in his hands. He looked at it with regret.

"Is something wrong, 5?" 9 asked.

5 snapped out of his thoughts and looked back at the newcomer. "Oh, uh, it's nothing. This just reminded me of someone who was close to me." he answered. "I just...need to take this with me. There's someone who would want it." He opened his bag and placed the lock inside. 9 wished he could understand what was so important about the lock, but he knew that now was not the time nor place to be asking about it.

5 joined 16 at the top of a pile of junk, having been called up there by the inventor, while 9 stayed on the ground to keep searching. He found 2's weapon lying on the ground, exactly where it had been left. “Aha! A clue, perhaps?” he heard 16 say. Curious, he joined the other two to see 5 holding 2's candle hat. Not soon after he had picked it up did it fall apart. “Nice job 5! You broke it! I busted my butt off working on that!” 16 said. However, his comment went ignored.

“Why was he out here alone?” 5 asked.

9 walked over to his side, hoping to comfort his friend. “We'll find him. I'm sure of it.” he said.

“Now then, back to adventure!” 16 said, running off in the direction of the tall shapes.

\-----------------------------

Another half an hour had passed, the shapes now closer than before. The winds had to picked up, making it harder to move on. The three Stitchpunks had to shield their eyes from all the dust and sand flying in front of their faces. Their vision was limited in these conditions. “Where's this tunnel?!” 9 asked, as 5 stared at the map.

“I don't know!” 5 yelled out. Suddenly, the map blew right out of his hands. 5 began to chase after it with 9 and 16 following behind him. The map got caught against a loose wooden board. Thinking that it was safe to grab it, 5 headed straight for it. But the ground underneath him gave way, nearly sending him to his death. Luckily, 9 and 16 caught his arms, keeping him from being a goner. As they helped him back up, the map blew away out of their reach.

“Nice job 5, now you've lost the map!” 16 yelled out. “This road trip is turning out to be a real bummer!”

“We should go back!” 5 said. The three Stitchpunks were about to turn around, but the strong winds prevented them from returning the way they had came. There was no choice but to go forward.

“We can't!” 9 yelled out.

“Hey guys, look over there!” 16 called out, pointing to a large tunnel a short distance away. The three of them ran over to it as fast as they could in hopes to avoid being blown away.

Upon reaching the entrance, 5 looked down and noticed a strange footprint bigger than them. He already knew what made that footprint, as there was only one creature that could. “The Beast...” he said. The group looked ahead into the dark tunnel that was before them. The Beast had gone this way for sure. 16 was about to rush in there, but 5 grabbed him by the shoulder before he had the chance. “Wait! It's too dark!”

9 looked around, his eyes coming across a broken down truck with a broken headlight, the bulb still intact. “We can use that.” he said, pointing to it. 5 walked over to the headlight and removed the lightbulb. Once he brought it over to 9, he took a battery out and connected the two items together. With a spark from his finger, the bulb lit up. 16 starred at it as if he was entranced with the light. “Wait!” 9 said once 5 separated the items. He dug through 5's bag, taking out what was left of 2's hat. He removed the blade on 2's weapon and placed it in the bag. After making a few adjustments to the hat, he placed it on what used to be a spear and placed the battery inside. He placed the bulb in and twisted it, the light turning on.

“Ooooo...” was all 16 could say.

5 smiled a little. “2 would be impressed.” he said, the smile fading away afterwards.

9 placed his hand on 5's shoulder. “We'll find him.” he said as he walked into the tunnel.

“You know, you're just like him. You forget to remember to be scared.” 5 said as he followed 9.

“At least I'm not as bad as 16.” 9 joked, receiving a laugh from 5 and a “Hey!” from 16.

As they traveled further into the tunnel, two figures came across the map that had blown away, caught against another piece of loose wood. Their eyes turned to the tunnel where 5, 9, and 16 had just entered. Knowing their destination, they followed after the Stitchpunks.

\----------------------------

When they emerged from the tunnel, 5, 9, and 16 found themselves face to face with a huge building. It looked like some kind of factory. “Can I wait here?” 5 asked, afraid to go inside. 9 just shook his head as he headed for the entrance.

“Come on 5, grow some backbone!” 16 said, dragging 5 by his arm to the entryway.

“Why me?” 5 said.

Once inside, the three saw Walkers lined up, ready to be deployed. They were thankfully offline, but they still looked intimidating. “Why would it bring him here?” 5 asked.

“Maybe it was hungry and wanted some lunch!” 16 joked, receiving harsh glares from his companions. In front of them, they saw a dark pathway that led to the depths of the fortress. 9 turned off the light as they went down. Once they got to the end, they found themselves in some kind of large room, the Beast nowhere to be found. In front of them was a large puddle of oil. “So where's 2? I'd like to get this over with as soon as possible.” 16 said.

9 and 5 began to search the room for the elder. 5's eye came across a huge cage at the top of a pile of rubble. Inside the cage was a lone figure. “There!” he said, scrambling to the top as 9 and 16 followed behind. When they reached the top, they saw 2 lying there motionless. “2? T-2?” 5 asked, lightly shaking the elders shoulder. He received no response, and the three assumed the worse. They were too late.

2 began to open his eyes, feeling 5's hand on his shoulder. He turned his head and smiled at them. “I knew you would come.” he said, resting his hand on 5's. They all looked up at him, relieved that he was okay.

“I thought-” 5 began, but 2 shushed him, pointing in the other direction. 9 walked over slowly and saw the Beast. It was digging through a pile of some kind, as if it was searching for something. 9 wondered what it could be looking for as he returned to the cage to help 5 and 16 free 2. However, it didn't take long for them to be discovered by the Beast and they had to run for their lives.

The four tried to fight it off with no success. The best they could do was stall it. They were quickly cornered by the Beast, preparing for the worst. Suddenly, they heard a strange noise. They turned their heads to see two small figures, one of which threw something on the it's mouth to keep it shut. The two ran on top of the creature, trying to fight it off. As the Beast removed a piece of armor off of the first one, the second was piercing it with their fingers. Once the first had recovered, they jumped in the air, rising their spear in the air. Their companion moved to the side of the Beast, as the spear made a clear cut through the Beast's neck, decapitating it. As the body fell to the ground, the two warriors jumped down in front of the Stitchpunks. They were the same size as them. One was wearing a skull over their head, while the other wore a dark blue cloak. “Don't eat me! I don't taste good!” 16 said, scared out of his wits. The two removed their headwear, revealing their identities. They were both Stitchpunks, females from the way they looked.

16 looked at the two Stitchpunks, and his mouth hung open in amazement. 2 and 5 were surprised as well. “7?! 15?!” 5 said in amazement.

“I don't believe it!” 2 said as he and 5 walked over to their saviors. 9 stared at the one with the skull helmet with a dumbfounded look on his face. There was something about her that interested him. 5 looked over at 9 and motioned him over to meet the two. 2 went up to the two girls and hugged them. 7 was surprised, but she hugged him back. 15 hugged him right away, happy to see him again. “I had thought the worst had happened to you, my dear!” 2 said before releasing the girls.

“I missed you too. A lot.” 15 said. She looked over at the inventor, who was still sitting there with his mouth hung open. “Are you alright?” she asked, laughing slightly.

“Who are you and what have you done with 15?” 16 said, mostly joking. 15 placed her hand against her forehead and shook her head at his stupidity.

“I guess some things never change. Still, it is good to see you again.” 15 said, lightly punching his arm.

“You've come back!” 5 said, unable to be any happier.

“We never left.” 7 said, pulling out the map she had found. “You've finally decided to join the fight.”

9 approached 7 with the arm shield that had fallen off of her before. “You dropped this.” he said as he handed the shield to her.

7 took the shield and placed it back around her arm where it belonged. “Where have you been hiding?” she asked. 15 approached 9, and began to look him over.

She smiled and said, “So you're 9. It's wonderful to finally meet you.”

“Rusty, shot, hacked-together, piece of-Oof!” 2 said, kicking the Beast's head. He hopped on one foot for a moment from the pain, then turned around to 5 and laughed.

9 watched as the others were talking with each other. Everyone looked so happy. It was perfect. However, that perfection was not meant to last as a round object nearby caught his eye. It was the same one he had found when he awakened, the one the Beast had been after. As he walked over to examine it, he heard 16 say, “This is awesome! We're all together here and having fun! What could possibly go wrong?”

\-----------------------------

5, 7, 9, 15, and 16 ran outside the factory as fast as they could. Once they made it out, they began to hide behind a piece of debris nearby. They were lucky to have made it out alive, as they had just encountered something worse than the Beast. They had just faced it's creator, who 9 accidently awakened by plugging in the round object he had found, which killed 2 in the process. By defeating the creature that had plagued them for so long, another stronger one had come to life.

5 was huddled down on the ground, going hysterical and slightly rocking in place. “I knew we shouldn't have come! Why?! Why did you do that?!” he said as he begun to shake 9, being affected the most by 2's death.

“I didn't know! I'm sorry!” 9 said. 5 stared at him, panting from all the running they had to do. “I'm sorry...” he repeated. 5 just looked down in despair. 15 went to his side to try and comfort him, hugging him to the best of her ability. She was also affected greatly by 2's death, more than 9 knew.

"It'll be alright 5, trust me. It's going to be alright." she told him quietly.

“What were you thinking?!” 7 asked.

“Wow. For once, I'm not the one getting yelled at!” 16 said.

The five of them suddenly heard strange sounds coming from the factory, and saw smoke coming from the top of the building. 15 clenched her arms and mumbled to herself, “It has begun...”

“What do we do now?” 5 asked.

7 and 15 looked at each other and just silently nodded their heads. “We know where we can find answers.” 7 said. she placed the skull helmet back over her face and ran off, 15 placed her hood up and followed after her. Knowing they had no other choice, the boys began to follow the two girls who knew where they were going.

\---------------------------

A few hours later, the group reached their destination. It was a huge library not too far from Sanctuary. 7 had already entered the building, while 15 and the others followed behind. Once inside, 9 came across a painting lying on the ground. He switched on the light staff to get a better look. It depicted a grass covered field with plants everywhere, a small building in the background. “Is this what it was like?” he asked as 5, 15, and 16 came closer.

“Yeah. This is supposedly how the world was before the machines.” 15 said. She walked closer to the painting and placed her hand on it. “It must have been beautiful. It's such a shame that we couldn't have seen it and experienced it for ourselves.” she said, looking back at 9. "I hope that one day, the world will be like this once again..."

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Can we talk about something interesting please?” 16 complained. 15 just stared at him and muttered something under her breath. Something about "his stupid hat".

“Keep up!” 7's voice echoed from deeper inside the library. The four of them moved on, as 15 took one last look at the painting. When they caught back up with 7, they entered a huge globe and found themselves surrounded by all kinds of objects. In front of them was a large book that was already opened. A rustling sound was heard, and 5, 9, and 16 turned their heads to the source of the sound. From behind a container popped out two identical Stitchpunks with hoods over their heads. On the sides of their chests were the numbers 3 and 4.

“No way!” 16 said with a smile.

“They've been here? All this time?” 5 said. The two walked over to him, and 5 pet them on their heads. 16 came over and high-fived them.

“Twins!” 9 exclaimed. The two Stitchpunks became startled by the presence of the newcomer and began to hide behind 7 and 15.

“Don't worry you guys, 9 isn't going to hurt you. He's a friend.” 15 said, trying to reassure the twins.

“They've been hiding here. Lost in the past. Looking for answers.” 7 said. 3 and 4 ran over to 9 and began flashing their eyes like crazy. They examined every detail of his body as everyone else watched in amusement.

“Oh man! I forgot how funny this could be!” 16 said, trying to hold back laughter. 5 and 15 both laughed a little, remembering what it was like for them.

“They're cataloging.” 7 explained to 9.

3 looked at 9's zipper and pulled it down, getting a shocked reaction from him. They noticed the light staff turn on from his jump and became interested in that. 4 took the lightbulb from the device and began to catalogue it, her brother following.

“We need your help.” 7 said, gaining the twins' attention. “We...awakened something.”

“No, I awakened something. Something terrible.” 9 corrected. The twins clicked to each other, talking. They ran over to the large book, and 4 placed the bulb back where it belonged. They flipped through the pages of the large book, and as soon as 9 saw a picture of the Machine he called out, “That's it!” 4 pulled on a string underneath the picture, which told them where they needed to go. They got upon an elevator, the other Stitchpunks following. 3 pushed the lever, sending them upwards. 9 looked at all the various things they had collected and organized as they went further up. 3 pushed the lever again, stopping the elevator. He and his sister ran off to look for something, while the other five followed them. The twins returned holding up a newspaper article. In the picture on the side stood two men, in between them was a big round eye like object. The others recognized it as the eye of the Machine. 4 began to use her to project a film on a nearby book.

The film showed one of the men from the picture, he was apparently known as the Chancellor. It went on to show the Machine creating a Walker, saying it was a machine of peace. The images became worse as it went on. It showed the Walkers shooting innocent civilians. It was showing them that what they had awakened was what brought the humans to their death. The film ended, and 9 was shocked by what he had just seen. But he hadn't seen anything about what had been used to bring it back.

“But the thing that woke it! It was round, and imprinted with strange symbols!” he said, describing it to the twins. 15 looked up. She had seen something like that many times before. But was it the same thing she thought it to be? 3 and 4 flashed to each other, but shrugged their arms. They had no idea what he was talking about. 9 looked around, and noticed that 15's fingers were made of pen nibs. He took her hand and brought it to a nearby piece of paper. “It looked like this.” he said, as he used 15's hand to draw it out. “It fit perfectly, into the Machine. As if it were made for it...”

15 looked at what he was drawing. It was what she thought it was. The thing that she had drawn many times and seen in her head. “The Source...” she said in a whisper.

“That's what 6 always draws!” 5 exclaimed. 15 turned her head hearing the prophet's name.

“Oh yeah! It is! Isn't that the same thing you draw sis?” 16 asked, but she didn't respond. She was lost in her thoughts.

“6?” 9 asked confused.

“He's an...artist...like myself.” 15 said, trying to be careful with her choice of words. She didn't want 9 to think she was crazy too.

“2 collected his drawings. He was always studying them.” 5 said.

9 remembered how he thought someone was watching him back at Sanctuary. It had to have been this 6. “We have to go back.” he said.

“What?! Go back to 1?! So he can lock us away while this nightmare awakens?!” 7 said. She placed the skull over her head. “Never.” Once she said that, she jumped down from the platform and went on her way.

9 looked at 5 and 16. “Come on, let's go.” he said. They walked out of the globe, beginning their journey back to Sanctuary. As the three of them were about to head out the entrance, they heard someone shout out to them.

“Wait!” 9 turned around to see 15 running after them. Once she caught up to them she began to explain herself. “If you're going, than so am I.” she said.

“But...won't 7 be mad at you?” 5 asked.

“If she gets mad, I don't care. I'm still going. Besides, I need to go back. There's something important I have to do. Something I should've done a long time ago...” she said. Although 9 didn't know what she was talking about, 5 and 16 knew exactly what she meant.

“Well, let's go then.” 9 said.

15 removed the cloak and threw it on the ground. "I'm not letting you lock me up either. I'd rather be there than here." 15 said, looking back at the library interior.

5 placed his hand on her shoulder to get her attention. She turned her head back to see her old lock in his other hand. "I believe that this belongs to you."

15 happily took the lock and held it in her hands. She looked up at 5 with a smile. "Thank you." she said.

"You look better with it on. It's strange seeing you without it." 5 said.

The four of them headed out the door, heading for where all the answers would be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, 2's death scene isn't missing, I have it to be uploaded as a short.


	9. Return

The group of four reached Sanctuary without any problems. Aside from the occasional complaint from 16 claiming that his feet hurt, but 15 was able to stop his complaining once they became closer. When they reached the entrance of the tall, looming building, 15 suddenly stopped as soon as they walked in. “You guys go on ahead. I'm going in another way.” she said. The other three stared at her in silence. “5, you and 16 both know what will happen if 1 catches me with you. The only way I can go in further is if I use a different means of getting to the throne room. I'll take the old staircase and sneak up that way.”

5 and 16 looked at each other, knowing that she was right. If they got caught, 15 would be done for. “Alright. But be careful.” 5 sighed. 15 smiled and headed off in the opposite direction of the others.

“Alright, now all I have to do is-Waugh!” 15 suddenly found herself hanging upside-down by her foot.

“Well, well, lookie who came back from the dead.” 15 knew that voice all too well. She turned her head and was face to face with 8. The next thing she knew, she was being grasped by her captor and being brought to the workshop.

\---------------------------

5, 9, and 16 entered the dark workshop. 5 and 16 began to look through the papers, hoping to find one of the drawings 6 had made. "Where did he put them? They're here somewhere." 5 said to himself as he searched. "Ah, here! Here they are." he said, taking out a sheet of paper. "Right?"

"How should I know, it's too dark to see anything!" 16 said. 9 switched on the lightbulb of his staff in an attempt to illuminate the room. Suddenly, the three of them were lifted off of the ground. They turned to see 8 behind them, 15 in his possession, chuckling at his find.

\---------------------------

“You've awakened, WHAT?!” 1's voice echoed throughout the throne room as he lectured the four Stitchpunks. “You, fools!” he rose from his throne and slammed his staff on the ground. “I warned you!”

“He warned you.” 8 repeated as he sharpened his sword.

“Now you've put us all in unimaginable peril!” 1 said as he walked closer to the group. “And, may I ask, did you manage to save 2? Of course not!”

15 walked right up to 1, unable to take what he was saying any longer. She had dealt with this enough in the past. “At least we tried to rescue him, unlike you! You just sat up here thinking about how you could make this so called Sanctuary of yours-” she began, but was cut off once 1's staff hit her right in the face, knocking her down. 11, who had just entered the room, ran over to help 15 back up along with 5. She was surprised to see the female artist standing there, but now was not the time to ask questions.

“And you brought her back here as well!" He practically hissed at when referring to her. "By following this witless folly you've endangered everything we've worked for!” 1 said, glaring at 15.

“1, that's enough. It was just an accident, they won't do it again.” 11 said, receiving a glare from 1 as well.

“I do not see bringing back a madwoman as a mere accident!” 1 yelled. "And they were the ones directly responsible for 2's death. Do you wish to tell me that was an accident as well?" 11 froze in place, not wanting to believe what he said. She looked over at 5 desperately, hoping that he would say otherwise. She realized that it was true when his head hung down in sadness.

“Well why was 2 sent out to begin with?” 9 asked, bringing up the question that was on everyone else's mind.

“I sent him! To scout!” 1 answered.

“That doesn't make any sense! You don't send the oldest out to-!” 9 began. 15 placed her hand on his shoulder, a sign that his current approach was useless. He let out a sigh and continued. “Look, we need to figure out what's going on.”

The sound of an ink bottle being knocked over caught everyone's attention. Everyone turned their heads to see 6 coming out of his small corner, a drawing in his hands. “The Source... The Source...” he said, running over to 9. He held up the drawing in front of him, not having noticed 15 standing nearby. “Go back... To the Source...” he repeated. 9 looked at 6's fingers, noticing that they were the same as 15's. She had told him that 6 was an artist like herself. Could she have known something about this “Source” as well?

“6?” 15 said, looking at the fellow prophet. 6 turned his head at the mention of his name, surprised to see her there. “I've come back.” she said, a sad smile on her face.

6 ran up to 15, happier than he had ever been in the past months. He wanted to hug her, but with the drawing in his hands, it was impossible. “F-f-15...y-you're alive...” he said.

15 just pat him on the head, ruffling his hair. “Of course I am. I'm not ready to die yet.” she said.

9 walked over to 6 and took the drawing out of his hands, inspecting it. “This is it! This is what awakened the Machine!” he said, showing the drawing to 1. He turned back to the prophets. “What do you two know about this?” he asked. Before either of them could say anything, 1 slammed his staff on the ground, calling 8 over in the process. The gargantuan Stitchpunk walked over to his side, leaving his sword by the throne.

“Ah, you can't be trusted. I won't allow any of you to endanger us further!” 1 said, talking to not just 9, but the prophets as well. As 8 drew closer, 6 flinched and began to back away slowly behind 15. “Subjugate them!” 1 instructed 8.

“Sub-wha?” 8 asked, unable to understand what the leader was asking him to do. 16 snickered a little before 5 elbowed him to stop.

“Oh, you illiterate cretin!” 1 said, placing his hand against his forehead in annoyance. “Take their belongings!” he said, simplifying the order. 8 laughed, approaching the group. He walked over to 5, snatching his map and picking him up by the bag on his back.

“Let him go, 8!” 11 shouted, however the brute ignored her words and continued trying to relieve 5 of his bag. “I said, let him go.” 11 pointed her spears towards him, ready to strike. 15 was ready to join her, much to 6's displeasure. 9 began to tug at 8's arm, trying to get him to release 5. 8 pushed him away to the edge of the room, nearly causing him to fall to what would have been his death. As the girls were about to stop 8, 9 got back up and looked to 1, who was returning to this throne.

“You're nothing but a coward.” 9 said, gaining the attention of 1. 11 smirked a little at his comment. 8 dropped 5 to the ground and began to walk towards 9, ignoring the two who were about to attack him. 1 ran over, placing his staff over 9's and blocking 8.

“How dare you challenge me! I, who kept everyone safe, all these years! Ever since you got here, things have been unraveling! You're a curse! A fool! Guided by pointless queries!” 1 said. 15 glared at the remark about keeping everyone safe. He had done anything but that, and she knew it more than anyone.

“And you are a blind man! Guided by fear!” 9 responded, pulling his light staff back. 1 just glared at him, having nothing to say.

Suddenly, a silhouette passed by the giant clock in the wall. 9 and 1 turned their heads, noticing that something was out there waiting to strike. After helping 5 back up, 11 held out her spears, getting herself ready for whatever might be attacking them. 15 told 6 to stay to her.

“Sometimes, fear is the appropriate response...” 1 said, stepping backwards closer to 8.

Then, they saw something crash through the clock and into the lantern they used for warmth. The lantern fell over into 6's room, setting all the drawings on fire. The creature's four red eyes began to flicker, and stare at the Stitchpunks in front of it. On closer inspection, it appeared to be a kind of bird-like beast. It let out a screech at its pray standing before it. 6 cringed and whimpered, attempting to run to his corner, but 15 held him back. 8 held out his sword, and 11 her spears, both ready to fight this new beast. The sound of a board falling over made the Stitchpunks turn their heads. 1 was standing where the sound had originated from, the calender lying on the ground. The bell on his staff jingled, attracting the beast. 8 yelled out and ran towards it, trying to attack with his sword. 11 tried to join, but was held back by 5. The beast knocked 8 down on the ground with a single swipe at him. 1 pushed away the picture of the first Beast, revealing a hole in the wall. “Quickly!” he called out to the bodyguard. 8 was reluctant, worrying about how the others would handle, but followed his leader's orders.

The others began to head towards the elevator, but 11 ran into the tunnel after 1 and 8. “11! What are you doing?!” 5 yelled out.

“Someone's got to make sure they don't make things worse!” 11 responded, running into the hole. “I'll meet up with you later!”

"Come on, lover boy!" 16 said as he pulled 5 by the arm over to the elevator where 15 and 6 were waiting. 6 looked back to what was once his room, all the pictures he had drawn were burning away. He could barely make out the crumpled drawing of 15 as it burnt into nothing but ashes. He whimpered quietly, frightened by the state of the burning drawing.

As 9 ran to the elevator, being the only one left who needed to reach it, the beast swiped at him and caused him to lose his balance. 5 turned back, seeing his companion on the ground. “9!” he called as he reached out his hand.

“Go!” 9 yelled out, moving out of the way just as the beast was about to strike him. 16 started the elevator, sending the four Stitchpunks out of the beast's way. 9 ran over and grabbed the rope sending it down, sliding down until he landed in the moving elevator. However, the beast was not going to let them get away so easily. It slashed at the rope, causing it to plummet down fast. The elevator hit the side of a support beam, causing 9 to fall right out. Once he got back on his feet, he looked down to see 5, 6, 15, and 16 not too far below him. “Keep going! I'll find a way down!” he yelled out to them.

15 observed their surroundings, noticing a hole in the wall big enough for them to go through. She had no idea if it would lead them outside, but it was better than standing there waiting for the fire to spread further. “This way!” she told the others. She took 6's hand and ran into the hole, 5 and 16 following behind them.

9 managed to make his way outside, and found himself standing right on a ledge. He began to run, and as he got to the edge he heard another screech from the beast. It crashed through the window that was once in the throne room and flew out in the open, stalking for prey. 9 turned to see 1, 8, and 11 running across the roof. The beast kept coming closer to the them, and as 1 was focused on where it was, he wasn't able to see where he was going and nearly ran right off the edge of the roof. Luckily, he grabbed on to the roof before he fell to his death. 8 and 11 stopped running and turned their heads to the beast. 11 noticed that there was something keeping it in the air, some kind of device. If they could jam something into it, it would stop flying and crash land. She could tell from the look on 8's face that he had a similar realization.

“8, on my signal, I need you to throw one of your swords at that thing.” she instructed. 8 let out a grunt, meaning that he understood what he had to do. He pulled his mask down over his face, and waited for her signal. The beast drew closer and closer. Once it was in perfect range, 11 yelled out, “Now!” 8 tossed the sword at 11's command, landing a direct hit on the device that kept in in the air. The beast was rendered flightless as it attempted to flap it's wings. But as it crashed, it rammed directly into 11 and 8. It tried to shake them off, sending them straight down the roof. 8 grabbed onto the nearest ledge, while 11 grabbed onto his leg. She looked down, seeing the airplane that had crashed into the building long ago directly below her. Running onto the surface of the plane were the other four Stitchpunks, being led by 15.

9 had managed to reach 1, and had pulled him back onto the roof. Although the device the beast had used to fly was disabled, it still managed to maneuver through the air. It began to take out some kind of harpoon, aiming for 8 and 11. The larger Stitchpunk was having a hard time holding on, a hit would send them both crashing to the ground. 9 looked around for something he could use to stop it. He saw a loose shingle nearby, a metal surface underneath. He ran over and pulled it up, shining the reflected sunlight at the beast. Blinded, it randomly shot the harpoon, grazing 8's leg and sending his other sword and 11 down before hitting a wall. The sword landed directly on the plane, while 11 took hold of the cable attached to the harpoon. She only held her grip for a moment however, and fell on top of the plane's surface. Thankfully with little damage. 8 finally lost his grip on the ledge and began to plummet as well. The cable slightly catching him, and breaking his fall. 11 quickly moved out of the way, keeping herself from being squished by the gargantuan Stitchpunk.

The blinded beast, having no idea where it was going, kept on flying forward. The harpoon, still in the wall, caught the beast and sent it careening backwards towards 1 and 9. In an attempt to dodge it, the two ended up falling straight down towards the plane. 8 and 11 ran as fast as they could in order to catch them. As the two were about to land, 8 rammed straight into them, catching them in the process and knocking 11 to the ground. The beast crashed onto the plane, landing in front of the Stitchpunks. It retracted the harpoon, and began to aim it at the group in front of it. 8 picked up his sword and held it defensively, while 11 did the same with her spears.

Right as it was about to attack, a small figure came out of nowhere and ran towards the beast. It was 7. 1 noticed her running, amazed at the fact that she was still alive as well. She leaped into the air, hoping that she could kill this beast the same way as the last one. The beast noticed her shadow however, and struck her in mid-air. She stumbled and landed beside the others. “Let me try that again.” she said. She got back up and tried to run at it again, but it shot the harpoon straight at her and hit her in the leg. She landed against the wall and tried to remove the harpoon from her leg, but before she could the beast began to pull her closer. 9 grabbed her spear off the ground and held onto 7 tight, sticking her spear in the ground so it couldn't pull her any closer.

“The cable! Cut it!” he yelled out. 11 ran up and sliced the cable with her spears, sending it flying around like crazy until it became jammed in the planes propeller. The force of it caused the plane to tilt downwards. 5, 6, 15, and 16 were caught by the wire reels, while everyone else had to do what they could to keep themselves from falling. 11 tried to stick her spears into the side, but only one of them made contact. The other slipped in her grasp and fell to the ground below. 7 held on to her spear, as it was already stuck in the surface of the plane. 9 grasped onto the harpoon still stuck in her leg, unknowingly causing her a sharp pain. 1 had no means of staying on, and began to fall. 9 grabbed on to 1's falling staff and used it to catch the elder, although 7 questioned why he had to save him.

The beast was still hanging on, unwilling to let go. 5 looked around where they had been caught, noticing an entire mess of wires. “Guys! Grab those wires!” he instructed. 6 and 15 took a wire in their hands, while 16 deviously smiled before grabbing it himself. He knew he was going to enjoy this. The four slid down with the wire and connected it to a power source. The propeller began to start back up, with the cable still caught in it. The beast began to be pulled down, but it wasn't about to die yet, not without taking someone with it. It jumped up, and took hold of 1's cape, continuously pulling at him.

“My-my cape!” 1 yelled out as he was constantly pulled farther.

“Let it go!” 9 yelled out. 

"I can't!" 1 said. The beast raised a talon, preparing to strike the elder.

"Do it, now!" 9 said.

1 showed reluctance, but knowing that there was no other choice he unclasped the cape and quickly grabbed onto 9, sending the beast straight into the propeller. The plane began to tip from the sudden change in weight. 8 had reached a support beam above the plane and helped 11 up as well. 1 looked at 9, unsatisfied, and began to climb up. “8! Pull me up!” he instructed the dimwitted Stitchpunk.

“Stop him!” 9 told 7. As soon as 1 had taken 8's hand, 7 grabbed onto his leg after removing her spear from the side.

“You fools! We can still save ourselves!” he yelled out, showing no care for what might happen to the four that remained down below. They began to feel a shift in the plane's position, there wasn't any way that it would stay up much longer.

“9! 9, it's going to fall!” 5 shouted out.

“Hurry! I'm too young and handsome to die!” 16 added. 15 rolled her eyes at her the inventor's idiocy. 6 held on to 15 tightly, shaking in fear.

9 looked around him, noticing the rope around 7's waist. “Throw me the end of your rope!” he said. 7 did as he said and tossed the rope to 9. He tied it around his waist, and as the plane began to fall he jumped down.

“No!” 7 and 11 yelled out. As 9 vanished from sight, all they could see was the explosion caused by the plane's impact. 7 began to fear the worst, while 11 looked away. She couldn't bear to look.

“Woohoo! That was awesome! We should do it again!” They heard 16 yell out in excitement. 11 turned around to see 9 and the others safely rising back up using the rope. She let out a sigh of relief.

“Fun! Fun!” 6 laughed, sounding like he had the greatest time of his life. “Again! Again!”

15 nervously laughed as she looked back to the striped Stitchpunk clinging to her. “Um... Honestly, I think once is enough.” she said.

“You're no fun!” 16 complained.

8 helped everyone onto the support beam. “There you go.” he said, helping the last of them up.

11 ran over to 5 in relief, hugging him tight. “Thank goodness you're alright.” she said. She began to realize what she was doing and quickly let go of him. She was still unsure of what to think about 2. "Try not to put yourself in such a dangerous situation again." she said as she looked away from him.

“My Sanctuary...” 1 gasped. Everyone looked at where the throne room once was, engulfed in flames. They had to move on. Little did they know that the head of the beast was still intact, and that everything that could be seen through it's eyes was being seen by it's master.

\-------------------------------

The Stitchpunks began to head towards the library where 7, 15, and the twins had been staying. Sanctuary could be seen from where they stood, the entire building now covered in flames. 1 looked back at the inferno that was once his home. He hung his head in disappointment, seeing all that he had worked for go down in smoke. 8 walked over to him, trying to comfort him. 1 let out a sigh and continued to walk. He came up next to 9, the stern look on his face again. “You owe me a cape.” he said before continuing.

11 tried to keep her distance from 9, 5, and 16. Too much had happened in one day, she needed the time to think about everything. 5 looked at her from a distance and sighed. How could this have happened? The girl he cared about wanted nothing to do with him. How could he explain what happened to 2 in a way she would listen? He felt a hand on his shoulder, turning his head he saw 16 giving a sympathetic look. It was almost as if he was trying to tell him that things would work out in the end. 5 simply smiled back silently, trying to think up a way to make things right.

6 was preoccupied with the embers floating through the air. Those were all that was left of his drawings. He chased after them, trying to catch one in his hands. He ran up and caught one in his hands, but when he opened them up to look at it, it turned into ashes. Disappointed, he decided to try and catch another one. 15 walked over to him, hoping to join in on the fun, but also trying to comfort him over the loss of his drawings. “I'm really sorry about your drawings 6. But I have some good news to tell you. All of mine are still intact.” she said. 6 smiled a little, and hugged 15.

“I-I'm so h-h-happy that you're b-b-back.” he said, pressing his head on 15's soft fabric.

15 blushed a little and smiled. “So am I 6. And this time, nothing is going to take me away. I promise.” she said, returning the hug. An ember floated in between the two, landing in 15's hand once she released 6. Before she had the chance to see what it looked like, it turned into ashes. “Come on. Let's go join the others.” she said, taking 6's hand. 6 nodded his head, holding onto her hand tight as they ran to catch up. This time he would make sure that he wouldn't lose her. No matter what the cost might be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I used a deleted scene in this instead of the original ending to the Winged Beast attack because I felt it worked better.


	10. Mourning

The Stitchpunks entered the library, being greeted by a very hyper 3 and 4. The two didn't expect everyone to be coming and were happy to see them, for the most part. When they saw 6 enter with 15, they were as happy as could be. They had began to worry that something might have happened to her when she had vanished without saying a word. But seeing her now, alive and well, made all their worries disappear. For the first time since 7 had brought them here, she looked truly happy. 4 walked up to 15, the cloak she left behind sitting in her hands. 'I believe this belongs to you.' she clicked, handing it over to her. 6 stared at the dark blue garment, wondering what value it had.

15 looked at 4 with a smile. “It's alright 4, I don't need it anymore.” she said, as she turned to look at 6. “I have all I need right here.” 6 looked away from the cloak to see 15 looking at him. He blushed, quickly turning his face away so she wouldn't see. 15 smiled, taking his hand back in hers. “Why don't we go and draw, you know, just like we used to?”

6 looked back at 15. “T-that would be n-n-nice.” he said. The two prophets continued walking into the huge library, the twins following silently behind them.

5 began to stitch up the wound in 7's leg that was left by the harpoon. He pulled out a needle and thread from his bag and began to sew it back up. 11 sat down next to 7, and noticed the bird skull on her head. “Nice helmet.” she said.

7 turned her head to look at 11, a smirk on her face. “I'm surprised you never got one for yourself.” she said. The two warriors laughed, their friendship still strong.

“There will be more, won't there?” 9 asked, looking up at the moon.

Before anyone answered his question, they heard 1 scoff. “It's not safe here!” he said, turning to 8. “Stand lookout!” The bodyguard turned around, heading for the exit. During this moment, 6 and 15 had caught up to the others and had began to draw together. On his way out, 8 stepped on top of their drawing and rubbed his foot against it, smearing the drawing. He continued on his way, laughing at the two. 6 wanted to say something, but just looked down in regret. 15 on the other hand, was no about to let 8 get away with this. She got up from the ground and ran over to 8.

“8, How dare you step on our artwork! You better apologize to 6 now!” she said.

“Why should I? It ain't as if dat picture of yours is...uh...important or anything.” 8 said, talking back to the smaller Stitchpunk.  “Jus let it go, crazy.” He began to walk off again, but 15 wasn't about to give up just yet.

“I know what you're going to do once you get out there. Instead of keeping lookout like 1 told you to, you're just going to mess your head up even further with that magnet of yours.” 8 stopped in his tracks as she continued. “You've been using that thing for too long 8. If this goes on, nothing good will come of it!” 8 thought that this wasn't worth listening to and went back on his way. 15 knew that her words were useless on him, but it was worth a try. “I swear, that magnet is going to be the end of him...” she mumbled. She walked back over to where 6 was sitting. “Don't worry about it 6, I'm sure we can fix it. It's not as if one little smear is going to ruin the entire thing.” she said, trying to comfort him. 6 just nodded with a small smile, and returned to drawing. 15 joined him, remembering how much she missed these moments.

"Thank y-you for s-s-standing up to E-8." 6 said.

"Hey, you know me, I wouldn't let him just walk away after doing something like that." 15 said.

6 placed his hand on top of her own, too nervous to look at her. "It w-was different though. You h-had a f-f-fire in you, one I've n-n-never seen in y-you before." 6 said. "You were b-b-brave, strong, things I-I-I could never b-b-b-be..."

"That's not true 6." 15 said, causing the striped artist to turn his head at her, confused at what she meant. "You are brave, and strong. You showed me that the day we met when you saved me when me arm had been ruined. I could tell something dreadful had happened to you before I found you, and yet you overcame your fear and brought me to Sanctuary even though the ground shook under our feet. If that isn't bravery, I don't know what is." She smiled at him, causing him to look away again to hide his blushing face. "Come on, let's try to fix this up."

Time passed by quickly, and they were finished within a matter of minutes. In front of them was a detailed picture of the Source, possibly the best one they had drawn. At that moment, 3 and 4 came running in and went straight over to 9. 4 began to project the image of the Source 9 had drawn earlier on a nearby book. 15 nudged 6's shoulder and pointed to the projection. 6 was filled with glee as he picked up the drawing they had just completed, running over to the twins with 15 shortly running after him. 5 wanted to reach out and 11's hand, but he feared that she would turn away again like she had all day. 11 noticed the solemn look on his face and took pity on him. She had no real reason to be mad at him. She took her hand into his with a smile. The two walked side by side in the direction the others were heading. 9 helped 7 up, her leg fixed up, and led her towards the same direction.

\------------------------------

“Like she knows what my magnet's gonna do to me.” 8 said once he reached the exit. He didn't care about what she had to say. Those two were insane for all he cared. He sat down on a nearby piece of a broken statue and pulled out the magnet he coveted so much. Placing it above his head, everything in his vision became fuzzy as the magnet overtook his senses. Suddenly, he heard a strange sound coming from nearby. At first, he just dismissed it and returned to the magnet. But a moment later, he heard the sound again. Knowing that it wasn't the magnet's doing, he got on his feet with his sword in hand. He searched the area, trying to find the source of the sound. He felt himself back up into something and quickly turned, ready to strike. But when he saw what was in front of him, he couldn't land the blow. The last thing he saw were bright, flashing lights.

\--------------------------------

The twins brought everyone into the large globe, a small book opened to a specific page. The images on the page indicated some kind of ritual. On the other page was an image of the Source. 6 walked up to that page and placed the drawing over the image, keeping it up with his hands. “What...what is it?” 9 asked, still uncertain about what this thing really was.

“The Source...” 6 said, turning his head towards 9.

“The thing that woke the machine!” 9 said, nearly shouting.

6 stepped back a bit, trying not to bump into 15, who was standing behind him. “G-go back... G-go back...!” 6 said.

“Back to where?” 9 asked. 15 opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the Stitchpunk standing in the doorway.

“Dark science!” 1 said, entering the room. “What good does this useless rubbish do us? Forget it!”

15 walked up in front of him, a irritated look across her face. “It isn't 'useless rubbish'! You just don't want to accept what's really going on even though the solution is right in front of you! If it wasn't for you, this whole mess never would've happened and we could've gone back to the First Room to find the answers in the first place!” she said.

1 scoffed at the girl. “If it wasn't for me, most of us would be dead by now, foolish girl!” he yelled in her face.

“You know something.” 9 said, causing both Stitchpunks to look away from each other. “What do you know?”

1 walked away from 15 and over towards 9. “I know enough to leave their ancient evils to molder.” he said. “Look what they left us with. Leave it be I say!” He turned around and pointed to 9. “But _you_! Always asking questions! So many pointless questions! Pushing, probing! Like 2! He always had to know! So much!” He ripped a part of the page out of the book.

“I was right! You did send him out to die!” 9 said.

“He was old! He was weak!” 1 said. 5 gasped out in shock, while 7 gave 1 a cold glare. “Sometimes one must be sacrificed for the good of the many.” 1 said.

“You coward!!!!” 7 yelled out, placing her spear against 1's neck. 6 turned away in fear. 11 actually thought of joining her, but decided against it.

“7, Stop! He isn't worth it!” 15 yelled out. “We can't afford to lose anyone else now! No matter who it is...” 7 just stood there, the weapon lying against 1's neck. 1 looked smug and scoffed in victory. She removed the spear from his neck and ran off furiously. 1 rubbed his neck, staring at 9 as he began to make his way out.

“Your path, leads us to catastrophe.” he said, heading out the door. 9 looked at the Stitchpunks remaining in the room, and then down at 6 and 15's drawing. 15 had mentioned something about a “First Room”. 9 assumed that she was talking about the place where he awakened into this world.

“We have to go back.” he said.

“Back?” 11 asked.

“Back to where?” 5 added.

“To the First Room, where I woke.” 9 answered. 15 and 6 both smiled. 9 was the first one to ever truly listen to what either of them were saying. 11 looked around the room, as if she was searching for something. 5 noticed her strange behavior and walked over to her.

“What is it 11?” he asked. 11 turned around to 5, looking a bit worried.

“Haven't you noticed how quiet it's been lately?” 11 said. 5 shrugged, unsure of what she meant. "16 isn't with us."

\---------------------------

16 was exploring the library, far from where the others were. “Man, this place rules! There's so much stuff just lying around! I could make a ton of sweet inventions with all of this!” he said, unaware of the situation he was putting himself in. He began to look around for items he could use to make some kind of crazy contraption. He was completely oblivious to the strange slithering sounds getting closer to him. A tall shadow loomed over him. “8, do you mind moving out of the way? You're blocking my...light...” he said, turning around to see that what stood before him was not 8. Seeing what was before him gave him mixed feelings of fear and joy, though it was mostly joy. “Woah! This is awesome! How did you manage to do that to yourself?” he said, unable to contain himself. The only response he was given was that of two flickering lights.

\--------------------------

Not too far away, 1 was trying to clear his thoughts. “Can't those fools see his way only brings trouble?” he mumbled to himself. “I know what we need, I-I know what's right...” Suddenly, he too began to hear a strange slithering-like sound from nearby. Although he was afraid, he tried to keep a straight face. Just in case this was another one of 16's practical jokes. Something began to make it's way out from the shadows. 1 couldn't entirely make it out, but it looked like a Stitchpunk as it became closer. Once it was in clear view, his fear escalated.

What was coming ever closer to him, was 2.

“No, no!” he said, trying to back away. “It can't be!” 2's body drew closer and closer, rising up higher at the same time. His head lifted up, and from his eyes came bright lights.

“NOOOOOO!!!!!” he yelled out. The lights continuously flashed from 2's eyes, placing 1 in a trance. The lights subsided, and the puppet master revealed itself. A cobra-like machine looked down at it's victim, helpless and venerable. It lurched forward, taking 1 in it's grasp.

\---------------------------

1's yell carried out throughout the library. 9 and the others heard him from the globe, and 5, 9, and 11 ran out to where his voice came from.

“Find her!” 9 yelled out to the twins and prophets, referring to 7.

When the three reached 1, they saw the machine tying him up in red thread. It's front was open, revealing a struggling 8 and an unconscious 16 in it's clutches. The machine had finished tying up 1, and was trying to pull him closer towards itself. It then spotted the three and closed up the opening where 8 and 16 were trapped. It raised 2's lifeless body and tried to entrance them as well. 9 and 11 turned their eyes away in time, but 5 on the other hand fell under the machine's trance. 9 turned his head to 5, and tried to get him to turn away. “Don't look in the eyes!” he said, although his words were useless.

Suddenly, a spear came out of nowhere and pinned 2's body against a book. 7 began to run towards where her spear had hit, dodging the machines attempts to stop her in her tracks. She ran up against the book, retrieved the spear, and used it to slice 2's body off of the machine's tail.

11 began to shake 5's body in a panic. “5! Wake up! Please!” she yelled out, her cries falling on deaf ears. 9 pulled the blade out from 5's bag and went to cut 1 loose. The machine was distracted with 7, giving 9 the opportunity to free the elder Stitchpunk. 11 continued to try and break 5 free from his trance. “5! It's me, 11! Snap out of it!” 5 remained unresponsive. 11 sighed in defeat, having run out of ideas. Only one idea was left, but she wasn't sure if it would do anyrhing. However, it was all she had left. “Dear Creator, please let this work.” she mumbled. She leaned her face close to his, pressing her lips upon his own.

As 9 tried to free 1, the machine took notice of him and knocked him away, the blade falling out of his hands. 7 ran out and leaped in the air, hoping to strike it. However, the machine caught her in mid-air. 9 took this opportunity to resume freeing 1. 7 tried to attack using her spear, but the machine took it out of her grasp and took hold of all of her limbs. 9 then cut the thread free, releasing 1 from the machine. The machine was prepared to attack 7, but before it had the chance to do a thing to her, a projectile hit it straight in the eye. 9 turned around to see 5 free from his trance, his crossbow aimed at the machine. It screeched at them before retreating with 8, 16, and 7 who it was tying up as it escaped. “7!” 9 yelled out as he ran after the machine.

“9!” 7 yelled back.

9 took hold of what was left of the machine's tail, trying to keep his grip as he rammed into books. He eventually lost his grip, and could only watch as 7 and the others were taken away. “NOOOOOO!!!!” he yelled out. As 6, 15, and the twins joined the others, 1 regained consciousness. The first thing he saw was 2's lifeless body next to him. Terrified, he scrambled away as fast as he could, removing the thread on his body. 9 ran back to the others. “We have to go after them!” he said.

“What?” 1 said, still trying to come back to reality. “8? Wh-where's 8?” he asked. 5 was holding 7's spear in his arms, telling the twins that she was gone. 11 had found 16's hat lying around nearby and had brought it to 15 in order to break the bad news.

“That thing has them!” 9 explained.

1 placed his hand over his mouth. “Then it's too late...” he said. “We need to get out of here... We-we must find another safe place...” he began, not even wanting to save 8.

“No more hiding!” 9 said. “We're going after them! _All_ of us!”

1 scowled at 9, he was beginning to lose his patience with him. “Need I remind you the outcome of your _last_ heroic venture?!” he yelled, pointing to 2's body where 5, 11, and the twins were crowding around. 9 didn't answer him and walked over to the group huddled over 2's body. He realized that if they just did nothing, all three of them would die and the Machine would just create more beasts to come after them. As long as those machines were out there, they would never be truly safe. They would just keep being found no matter where they decided to hide. They had no other choice.

“I can't let this happen to them.” he said.

\-----------------------------

Later, all the Stitchpunks gathered at the fountain in the middle of the library. They had placed 2's body on a board, and were holding a funeral for him. They placed the board on the edge of the fountain, and kneeled down around it. 9 took his arms and crossed them together, then placed the coin from 1's hat over his eyes. They pushed the board into the water, allowing it to float away into the drain in the center. As they watched 2 float away, each of them felt a bit of regret. 2 had made the biggest impact on every one of them, from keeping 6 and 15 from being thrown out, to fixing 5's eye, to giving 9 his voice. Not one of them had ever thought that he would die, especially the way he did. 6 held onto 15's arm as the body floated farther and farther away. 11 had placed a hand over her heart, and 15 placed her hands together as if in prayer. Although he wasn't with everyone else, 1 was watching the funeral from a distance. He couldn't bring himself to watch his own brother's funeral with everyone. Once 2's body was out of sight, most of the others had gone their separate ways in order to prepare for their assault. 5 and 11 were the only ones who remained. 1 continued to watch from a distance, unsure of what the two of them were still doing there.

"11, what's wrong?" 5 asked, noticing the irritation on 11's face.

The purple Stitchpunk pulled out her remaining spear. "I'm going after them."

"What?!" 5 said. "But 11, we have a plan! You can't just go by yourself like this without reason!"

"Without reason?" 11 repeated. "What about saving the lives of our clan members? Is that a good enough reason for you, 5?"

"Well yes, but 9 has-" he tried to say.

"I don't give a damn about what 9 has to say, or what his plan is!" 11 shouted. "He's the one who caused all of this in the first place! If you had just listened to me when I told you to stay in Sanctuary, or if you had just left him out there, then none of this would have happened!"

"11 it was all an accident." 5 attempted to explain. "He didn't intend for any of this to happen, you can't hold a grudge on him like this."

"So you're saying I shouldn't even care that he's gone? That I should let the other three just die?!" 11 said, getting angrier.

"That's not what I meant!" 5 said. " But you shouldn't jump into a decision like this so rashly. You could get yourself killed!"

"If that's what it takes to save them, then I don't care." 11 said, turning around to try and walk away.

"You may not care, but I do!" 5 shouted. "I've always cared about what happens to you and this is no exception! I worry about you. You put yourself in these dangerous situations and shrug them off as if they're nothing! I always become worried about whether you'll make it back or not! And that's because I love you. 11!"

11 stopped, looking back at 5. The one-eyed Stitchpunk had a desperate look in his eyes, hoping that his words would make her reconsider. "5, I..." 11 began unsure of what to do. Deep down she wanted to hear him tell her this for years, but now she wasn't sure. "...I'm sorry 5, I have to do this." She turned away and began to head back to her original goal.

5 stood there for a moment, his heart broken. She didn't even tell him if she felt the same way or not. What could he do now? The girl he had loved was sentencing herself to her own death. She didn't know just what that machine was capable of. It wasn't the same as the Beast at all, it was something much more powerful, something she couldn't stop on her own. He couldn't let this happen to her. Before she went too far, 5 began to run after 11. Maybe it wasn't too late to stop this.

\-------------------------

11 had only managed to make it a small distance away from the Library before she heard a voice calling after her. "11, wait!" She stopped running and looked to see 5 chasing after her. He was still trying to make her stop?

"5, I told you that my mind is made up, you can't stop me." 11 said, trying to let him down gently.

5 came to a stop, trying to catch his breath. "11, you don't understand." he said in between breaths. "I'v seen this machine and what it can do, trying to take it on alone is suicide!"

"Well in that case, fight with me." 11 said.

"No! I barely escaped it last time! And that was with four others with me! The two of us aren't going to beat it!" 5 pleaded.

"Well if I can't destroy it, the least I can do is incapacitate it." 11 said.

"Please listen to me! You can't do this-WAUGH!" 5 and 11 both found themselves lifted into the air. A sentry machine had spotted them from below and began to take them to the factory. They tried to break free, but with no success. The smokestacks of the factory came into view. 5 couldn't believe all this was happening. The instant they were released, he was going to take 11, by force if necessary, back to the library.

They felt themselves drop down into the heart of evil itself, the Machine mere inches away from them. 11 pulled out her spear in preparation to fight, but 5 grabbed her by the arm and began to run. "5, what are you doing? This is our chance!" 11 said.

"No! We have to get out of here! It's too powerful for us alone, we need to go back to the others!" 5 said. He had nearly made it to the exit when he began to feel something trying to pull him. He turned around to find that the Machine had taken 11 in it's grasp, and it was trying to take him as well. 5 tried to resist the pull with little success as it slowly dragged him further.

"5, let go!" 11 shouted.

"No! I've already lost 2, I'm not going to lose you either!" 5 said in desperation.

"5, please! You have to let go! I got myself into this mess and now I'm paying the price! But you still have a chance! You can get out of here! But you have to let go!" 11 said. "I don't want you to die because of my actions! Now go!"

5 realized that he had no other choice. It was either her or both of them. He didn't want to let go of 11, but there was nothing he could do. He let go of her arm, sealing her fate. He felt frozen where he stood as he watched the soul being sucked right out of her. He snapped back to reality when her lifeless body landed in front of him, some of her bead strands broken and on the ground. Without thinking, he grabbed 11's corpse and ran for his life. She gave her life to save him and he wasn't about to let that be in vain. Upon making it to the exit and as far away from the factory as he could get, he fell on his knees and began to cry, hugging the body of the woman he loved.

\---------------------------

A while after the scene with 11 and 5, 1 walked over to the fountain himself. At first he just stood there, doing nothing but stare at his reflection in the water. “Perhaps I haven't been the leader I thought I was.” he said, as if he was tying to speak to his brother. “Not only have I lost my trusted bodyguard, but I've lost you. Perhaps that girl was right, this could very well be my fault entirely. And I know that none of them are about to forgive me, not after all I've done to them. Especially you. I could tell you how sorry I am and it wouldn't do me any good...

“Oh 2... Where did I go wrong...?”

The sound of footsteps startled 1, making him scramble away as fast as he could. He found a place to hide, watching to see who could possibly be coming here now.

It was 15. 1 was surprised to see that she was all alone, as 6 was nowhere in sight. In her hands was 16's hat. She sat down in front of the water, a depressed look on her face. As 1 began to question why she was here, she began to do something he had never seen her do before.

She began to sing.

“ _Darling, can you hear me singing?  
It's a requiem for you, the love I once knew  
In your dream land are we holding hands?  
Did you choose to be with me?  
The rain falls so softly onto my skin  
As I sing an elegy for what might have been._”

1 didn't know she even could sing. Of course, why would she have any reason to tell him. He began to listen to her, curious as to the ability of the girl he had believed to be crazy. Whatever she was singing had a sad tone to it. Even the lyrics were depressing. She suddenly stopped, turning her head behind her. 1 tried to hide again, thinking she had seen him. But it turned out that it was someone else who had grabbed her attention.

"5, I'm so sorry."

1 looked back, seeing 5 walking towards the fountain with 11 in his arms. The look on her face told the elder everything, she had befallen the same fate as 2. 5 looked down at the ground, not responding to 15's words of comfort. "5?" 15 said, trying to get a response. Without warning, 5 grabbed ahold of her arm, shocking both the artist and 1.

"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" 5 asked in a low voice.

"...What?" 15 asked.

"You knew this was going to happen! To 2, 11, all of us! You knew that they were going to die and yet you did nothing to save them!" 5 snapped. "You could have done something to stop this from happening, so why didn't you?"

15 slapped 5 in the face, shocking 1 in the process. "Get a hold of yourself 5!" she said as 5 looked at her surprised. "Don't you think if there was something I could've changed that I would have done it?! My abilities don't work like that! Just because I can see the future doesn't mean I can change it! If I could I would have saved 2 back there, I would've kept 11 from dying, and I would've convinced 7 to let me stay at Sanctuary!

"Wait, you didn't leave Sanctuary by choice?" 5 asked, shocked by the revelation.

"Of course I didn't!" 15 said. "I didn't care what 1 and 8 did to me, I was happy there! I was with you, 16, 2, 11, and 6... Why would I just leave from a wonderful family like that?" 15 fell to the ground. "I never wanted to leave, but you know how 7 is when she makes a decision. I had no choice."

5 sat down beside her, placing 11 on the ground and taking 15 into a hug. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap like that. I just wish all of this would end." he said.

15 returned the hug. "So do I, 5. So do I." The two let go and looked back at 11. "You should send her off. It's what she would want." 5 looked at her in agreement. The two of them walked to the edge of the fountain, preparing to send off her body. 5 removed one of the remaining bead strands, wanting to have a memory of her. They placed her body onto the water's surface, letting her sink to the bottom. "She felt the same way about you." 15 said, breaking the silence. 5 looked at her surprised. "She just didn't know when would be the right moment to say it. But she did love you." 5 smiled sadly. At least he knew the answer to that question.

"I'm sorry I interrupted your singing. You're good at it." 5 said.

15 began to blush green. "So you heard me." she said.

"I did." 5 said. "How come I've never heard you sing until now?"

"Because I'm nervous to do it in front of others." 15 answered.

"You shouldn't be. I want to hear the rest of that song." 5 said.

15 looked at him, and smiled a little bit. “Well, if you insist. I guess if we do manage to make things go back to normal, I'll sing to all of you.” she said before finishing the song with a more upbeat voice.

“ _The waves call me gently, to my dearest heart_  
I'll sleep in them softly; soon you will see me  
The light begins to fade, but I am not afraid  
Cause I am on my way.”

1 began to think as he listened to 15 sing. Perhaps he had been wrong about her and 6. But it was too late to change what he had done to them. He could apologize, but it wouldn't be enough for them to forgive him. Thinking that he had enough, he slowly tried to sneak away. He decided that he would act like he had seen nothing. He couldn't falter now, not when things looked their darkest. However, 15 saw him from the corner of her eye. She knew why he was still here, and it was enough to make her smile a little bit more. 1 did have a heart after all. 'Don't worry 1, your secret is safe with me.' she thought. 'It'll be safe until the day I die.'

From the side of the fountain, 6 had also been listening in to 15 and 5. He felt relieved hearing that 15 had not left by choice. He had been right to trust in her all along. And he enjoyed her singing. Her voice was beautiful as 5 had said. He wanted to hear her sing again, under better circumstances. And with a happier song, because there was something about that song that made him feel a bit uneasy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra long chapter, but I feel it gets what I wanted across. The song used here is a Homestuck fansong, but the name currently escapes me. I'll come back later and fix that. Next chapter is going to have a lot of death in it, so prepare yourself.


	11. Source

By morning, all the Stitchpunks had gathered outside the factory. Sentry machines were flying around in the air keeping watch for anything suspicious, which kept the Stitchpunks hiding behind nearby rubble. Once a sentry passed on it's way, 15 and the twins moved a sheet of metal away. Seeing the coast was clear, 9 began to head towards the factory, but 5 stopped him before he could go any farther. “Wait! I'm going with you!” he said, grabbing 9 by the shoulder. 9 turned around to look at him.

“No. It's too dangerous. If I don't come back...destroy it.” he said. 9 turned away and ran for the entrance of the factory.

“Wait! How?!” 5 yelled out, but 9 was already too far away to hear him. 5 sighed and looked to the side, noticing some machinery running. He knew what they were, oil wells. He looked at the ground below him, seeing a small pool of the black liquid. He remembered seeing a larger pool of oil when he was inside the factory an idea forming in his head.

“Well, let's hear it.” 1 said from behind him. “What's your brilliant scheme?” 5 turned towards the elder, pulling out a match from his bag.

“We'll need a full barrel.” he said with a grin. As they began to look around for a barrel of oil, 15 stopped and looked ahead at the sinister factory.

“F-15? W-w-what is it?” 6 asked, lightly shaking 15's arm. She snapped out of some kind of trance she was in and looked at 6.

“It's nothing.” she said. She began to walk ahead, 6 following. “At least he'll be able to go out in a blast.” she mumbled.

\---------------------------------

The Seamstress stood in front of it's creator, taking out the first victim it had captured. It presented 8 to the Machine, as if he were a tribute. The Machine took the Stitchpunk into it's own arms, placing him in front of it's singular eye. 8 began to struggle, trying to break free from his captor with no success. The Machine's eye closed completely, and 8 stopped struggling. The talisman began to power up, and instead of struggling again 8 growled at the Machine, trying to show that he wasn't going to give in. But it did no good, as the green lights that emitted from the talisman shot straight into his eyes and mouth, draining his soul inside. The lights subsided, and his body fell limp in the Machine's grasp. It opened up it's red eye, taking in the power that it had received. The Seamstress held out 16, who had regained consciousness once again.

He looked down at the thread that kept him tied up. “What was I doing last night?” he said. He turned his head to see the Machine looking straight at him. The inventor became absolutely frightened, wanting to get away but stuck where he sat due to the thread. “Hey let me back in! Let me back in!!! I don't wanna be Machine fuel!!!” he yelled out in a panic. The Machine proceeded to take 16 in it's grasp.

At this point, 9 had made his way into the factory. Hearing 16 yell out, he ran as fast as he could. He stopped and kept himself hidden from the machines, and could only watch while 16 met his fate.

16 struggled in fear, but once he came face to face with the eye of the machine, he just gave a big grin. “Ha! You think you can take me down like this? You obviously don't know who you're dealing with! The awesomeness that is 16 can't be taken down by the likes of you!” he said. The Machine began to power up the talisman once again, but 16 didn't seem to notice. “In fact, you're nothing but a big, glowing, piece of-” 16 was cut off, as he too had his own soul drained from his very body. In a matter of minutes, he was in the same, lifeless state as 8. His body fell to the ground, landing on top of 8's.

The Seamstress took out 7, it's final victim, and was prepared to give her up to the Machine. 9 couldn't let that happen to her, and taking notice to a scrap of burlap thought of a plan.

As the Seamstress presented 7 to the Machine, a yell caught it's attention. “Hey! Over here!” From where it stood, it's broken red eye caught something moving. Seeing the foolish Stitchpunk giving itself away, it decided to close in and placed 7 back inside it's body. Once it got close enough, it began to strike it's needles into the burlap in order to tie it up. When it tapped it's head, the Stitchpunk strangely lit up. The Seamstress began to realize that this was no Stitchpunk. While it was distracted, 9 began to run off in the other direction. The Seamstress began to take chase, but was caught on something and couldn't move. 9 had tied the light staff to a nut and threw it up by the gears. And with the Seamstress' thread still tied to the staff, it was being pulled up as well towards the gears.

9 stopped running and turned around to the Seamstress. Taking out a small blade, he stuck it into the Seamstress and sliced through it, releasing 7. Before she could make impact with the ground, 9 caught the warrior in his arms. The Seamstress was being pulled farther and farther into the gears, and soon it was noting more than a pile of fabric and crushed machinery. 9 looked at 7 and began to untie her so they could escape.

\--------------------------------

Back outside, 5 and the others had managed to find a barrel of oil and had rolled it up to the entrance. Stopping it right in the front, 5 looked down into the tunnel worriedly. 9 hadn't returned with the others yet. “Where are they?” he asked. 15 walked over to him, placing her hand on his shoulder.

“Don't worry. He'll come.” she said. “I just know it.”

“It's been too long! There's no way he's still alive!” 1 said, dismissing 15's words. “We have to do it now!” he began to reach for the match, but 15 grabbed his arm.

“I don't think so.” she said. 1 pulled his arm away and continued to reach for the match.

“I don't recall you having the authority to tell me what I should or shouldn't do, stupid girl!” he yelled out.

“Leave her alone! We need to give 9 more time!” 5 yelled back, running in between 15 and 1.

1 laughed at 5's behavior. “And allow you to cause the death of _another_ of our kind? I don't think so!” he said. 5 cringed and looked down in depression. 15 looked at 1 with rage. This time he had gone too far.

“I've had enough of this!” she said, ready to give 1 a piece of her mind. But before she could, a light began to shine down on all of them. They looked up and saw that one of the sentries had spotted them. All the arguing and yelling must have given them away.

5 took out his grappling hook and shot it at the sentry. 5 grabbed the cable and began to pull down on it. “Help me bring it down!” he called out to the others. 6, 15, and the twins ran towards 5 and grabbed onto the cable, though a few grabbed onto another Stitchpunk. The sentry let out some kind of siren, and tried to resist the pull. The Stitchpunks continued to pull, but weren't able to bring it down. They began to be pulled themselves by the machine. However, using quick thinking, 1 looped the cable around an open section of the barrel. The others were no longer being pulled up, and fell to the ground.

1 looked down the tunnel and began hearing the sounds of something coming closer. “They're coming!” he said, running over to the fallen 5. As 5 reached out his hand with the hope that he would help him up, 1 instead grabbed the match and lit it.

5 managed to get back up and ran to 1 before he could light the oil. “No! Not yet!” he yelled out, struggling to remove the match from 1's grip.

“Let...go...you...fool!” 1 said, not about to give up.

“5!” The two heard 9 call out from the tunnel, 7 following behind him. There were countless numbers of small machines chasing them. 5 took the match from 1 and lit the trail of oil, while 1 ran over to begin pushing the barrel.

“Now!” he yelled out to the others. 1 and everyone else began to push the barrel as hard as they could, sending it rolling down the tunnel.

As it came towards them, 7 took 9's hand and jumped over the barrel. The machines behind them were pushed back by the live weapon. As the others watched 7 and 9 make their way through the tunnel, 15 turned around and yelled out “Move!!!” They turned to find the sentry that had spotted them was being sent down as well. Everyone dived to the side to avoid being sent down with it. 7 took the blade 9 had and stuck it out forward. She lurched forward with 9 in her grasp and stabbed straight through the blimp part of the sentry. The two safely made it out of the tunnel, just in time. The group of Stitchpunks ran as fast as they could in order to safely avoid the explosion.

Once they reached a safe distance, they all looked back to the factory. The building had burned completely down. There was no way anything could have survived the explosion. They slowly walked away from the sight, relieved that everything was over. “Hmph. Good riddance!” 1 said before walking away.

“You did it.” 5 said to 9.

“Are you two just going to stand there all day, or are you going to join us?” 15 called out. 5 and 9 ran over as fast as they could. 5 however, stood for a moment and looked back at the factory.

"You see 11? The plan worked after all." he said with a hint of sadness. 3 and 4 were on top of a record player that was nearby. The two started to walk across the surface, causing it to begin making a sound.

“ _Somewhere, over the rainbow,_  
Way up high  
There's a land that I heard of,  
Once in a lullaby.”

15 suddenly raised 6 by his legs and placed him on top of her shoulders, carrying him around. The striped Stitchpunk began to laugh, not expecting her to do such a thing. For the first time in what felt like forever to the prophets, they were able to laugh and have fun together. 7, who was sitting on the record player, laughed at the prophets antics. It made her happy to see 15 enjoying herself again. It had felt like forever since she had seen her this way. Perhaps it had been wrong to have taken her away from Sanctuary. She had thought it was best for the female artist, but now she realized that she had been happy all along. Suddenly, she heard the sounds of eyes flashing behind her. The twins were standing on the handle of the record player cataloging her, as well as 6 and 15. 7 placed her skull helmet over her face and waited for the twins to come up again. Once they did, she turned around and yelled out at them, startling them and causing them to fall over. She looked down and saw that 9 was turning the handle.

9 himself got on the handle and tried to walk over to 7, tripping and causing the record to skip a little. 7 helped him up as he looked embarrassed. They looked over to see that 6 and 15 had found their way onto the record player themselves. 6 was standing in front of the speakerphone and looking into it. “Souuuuunnddd!” he kept saying into the speakerphone. “Sound!” Next to him, 15 was sitting down and giggling. She rarely ever saw him act silly like this.

Both 9 and 7 laughed before looking back at each other. “Thank you.” she said.

“ _Someday I'll wish upon a star_  
And wake up where the clouds are far behind me.  
Where troubles melt like lemon drops  
Way above the chimney tops, that's where you'll find me.”

9 and 7 noticed that there was an extra voice singing that time. They looked ahead and saw that the extra voice had come from 15. The two were surprised at the fact that she could sing. 6 on the other hand, was happy. “W-what a beautiful s-s-sound...” he said, sitting down next to 15. 15 blushed, her singing wasn't that good yet 6 believed otherwise.

“You really think so?” she asked. 6 nodded his head, blushing as well.

“Y-y-your s-singing isn't t-the only t-t-thing that is...” he said. 15 was confused and flattered all at once. 6 leaned in closer and gave the confused prophet a kiss. 15's whole face turned a bright green. Everyone that was nearby looked in amazement at the prophets kiss. 6 removed his lips from 15's, leaving her flustered. “F-f-f-15...” he began. “I-I...I love you...” he nervously said, his stutter gone and with a hopeful smile.

“S-s-6...” 15 was at a loss for words for a moment. Once she snapped back, she took 6 in her arms. “6, I love you too.” she said.

5 smiled a little, pleased to see his sister figure and friend happy together. He had suspected the two of them had something for each other, but never tried to figure out if it was true or not. So much had happened to them in the past few days, he figured it was best for them to have their moment. He walked over to the container of records, hoping to find something that would set the mood.

Meanwhile, 1 was sitting by himself, looking at the burning factory. He listened to 15's singing again, it was different than what he had heard last night. He remembered what she had said about singing for them once things returned to normal. Even though that meant everything would be fine, he couldn't join in with the others. Everyone else was happy, after all they had destroyed the last thing that had been going after them. They could rest easy and celebrate. So why did 1 feel so terrible? He removed his hat, the last symbol of authority he had left, revealing the tie on his head. He looked down at the ground, his heart feeling heavy.

5 looked through the records, stopping at a cover with a woman on it. His heart began to feel heavy, but he shook it out of his mind. 11 might have been gone, but he still had a life to live and a family to spend it with. And now they could live together without fear of machines. Nothing could possibly go wrong. As he was distracted, a record began to roll away. 5 snapped back to reality and began to run after it. 1 looked up, seeing him chase after a silly record. “That boy really is foolish...” he mumbled, looking back at the ground.

As the record rolled away, 5 stopped to catch his breath. He looked at the destroyed factory once again, thinking he could see something in the dark cloud of smoke. At first he thought it was just his imagination, but then he saw something move. A large figure came closer and closer. It wasn't until he saw the red glow that 5 became terrified.

Back at the record player, 6 and 15 were sitting on top of the handle together, their hands clasped together. Suddenly, 6 let go of 15 and began to shake in fear. 15 knew that look far too well, 6 just had a vision and it wasn't a good one. “6, what's wrong? What did you see?!” she asked.

6 looked up at her and whispered slowly, “D...d...death...”

“Guys!” 5 yelled out, grabbing the attention of everyone. “Run! The Machine! It's alive! It's alive!!!” Behind him was the Machine, damaged but still functional. The twins, who had been running across the record, stopped once they hit the needle, knocking 6 and 15 to the ground.

The Machine took 5 in it's grasp, and 9 ran to try and save him only to be held back by 1. “It's too late now! Continue this and you'll kill yourself!” he said as 9 continued to struggle.

As the Machine brought him closer and closer, 5 screamed out in terror. He stopped just a second before before the talisman drained his soul, thinking he could see something in it's eye. His thought was cut short as the talisman drained him of his soul. “No!” 9 yelled out, unable to do anything. 6 and 15 were practically huddled together, the two holding each other as tight as they could. The Machine completed draining 5, leaving a burnt hole in the patch where his eye once was. 5's body was dropped to the ground, and 7 took the twins in her arms, covering their eyes.

6 and 15 looked at the Machine's eye, seeing something inside. In the eye were their comrades, at least what was left of them. They could see 2, 5, 8, 11, and 16, and the prophets knew that it wasn't too late. “The others...” 15 said.

“T-t-they're trapped!” 6 said, clutching onto his key.

1 turned around, and saw a bridge suspended over a chasm. “To the bridge!” he called out. While 9, 7, and the twins followed 1, 6 and 15 remained where they were. 7 stopped and ran back for 15, with 9 grabbing 6.

“Are you two trying to get yourselves killed?!” 7 asked.

They reached the bridge, with the machine following behind them and getting closer every second. 9 and 7 lost grip of the prophets, and the two ran towards the machine. “They're trapped! They're trapped inside!” the two said as 9 and 7 restrained them both.

“6! 15! Come on!” 9 said, resuming his running.

“What is wrong with you?!” 7 asked. "You've never acted like this before!"

“7, you don't understand!” 15 tried to explain. "I know what we have to do, please listen to me!"

“I think that you're the one who doesn't understand! We need to keep running until we find a way to destroy that thing!” 7 said. "All you're doing is sending yourself closer to death!"

“But you _can't_ destroy it! If you do, the others won't make it!” 15 said.

7 looked down at 15 in confusion. She and 6 were acting strange. Something wasn't adding up. But now wasn't the time to figure out what. They had to keep running. "Well now isn't the time for this!" she said, pulling the female artist once again. 15 looked desperately at 6, unsure of a way to tell the others what they clearly understood. 6 looked just as upset as her, how could they not see it? The Machine struck the bridge, just missing the Stitchpunks. The bridge began to give way, and the Machine had to grab a metal bar just to keep from falling into the chasm below. Seeing as this being the perfect opportunity, 7 ran over and began using her spear to try and send the Machine to it's end.

“No! Stop! You musn't destroy it!” 6 yelled out, running towards 7 with 15 following behind him.

“Please listen to us 7! You're making a big mistake!” 15 yelled out.

“Get away you two!” 7 shouted out, shrugging off their words returning to the task at hand. 6 and 15 turned around and ran towards 9.

“You musn't destroy it! Don't destroy it. They're trapped. They're trapped, they're inside! They're _inside_!” 6 said.

“9, you can't destroy it! Not yet! If you destroy it now, they'll be lost forever!” 15 said, trying to word it in a way 9 would understand. "It's not too late, you can still save them!"

At that moment, 7 had successfully gotten the Machine to lose it's grip on the bar keeping it from falling. In a scramble, it broke through the boards of the bridge with it's arm, taking both 6 and 15 with it. 9 and 7 ran to the edge of the bridge as fast as they could, as the bridge began to fall to the side, joining 1, 3, and 4. They could only watch as 6 and 15 suffered the same fate as the others had.

“Go back! To the First Room! He'll show you! The Source!” 6 yelled out.

"The truth lies in his words! He'll reveal they keys to freedom!" 15 added.

The two of them didn't struggle, as if they accepted death peacefully. They had no regrets, and they knew what would happen to them from the beginning. Their life had been short, but they didn't care. They had spent it well, and they trusted 9 to listen to their words. "All is how it must be." 6 said.

“Well, I guess this is end.” 15 said, looking over at him.

6 took her hand into his, refusing to let it go. If they were to die, it would be together. “At least I'm with you at it.” he said.

15 weakly smiled. “I couldn't have said it better myself.” she said. "Thank you, for everything." The two looked at the Machine's eye, accepting their fate.

9 and 7 watched helplessly as 6 and 15 were drained of their souls, 9 nodding his head in understanding. The two fell limp in the Machine's grasp before they were dropped into the chasm below. 9 and 7 looked away in sadness, while 1 looked down at the Machine. The mechanical monster shook in it's temporary prison, trying to break free. “We have to destroy it.” he said.

“No. Didn't you hear them?! They're trapped inside! We can still save them!” 9 said, hoping to reach the others.

“What?” 7 asked.

"We have to find the Source. It holds the answer!" 9 said.

1 and the other looked down at the Machine, still trying to break free from the fallen bridge. “We're out of time.” 1 said, looking at 7. She turned her head back to 9.

“9, they're gone.” she said. "We all saw it. There's no way to undo what has been done."

9 looked at them in disbelief. “You're wrong. There's a way to save them, and I'm going to find it.” he said, running off.

“9!” 7 yelled out. But 9 ignored her. 1 placed a hand on her shoulder, not exactly in sympathy but in a bit of comfort.

“Let him go.” he said. 7 took one last look at the Machine, feeling guilty about 15.

“I'm sorry.” she said, before joining 1 in search of a way to destroy the Machine for good. The twins looked down at the chasm in sadness. All they wanted was for everyone to be happy. Instead their family was as split apart as it could be. 5, 15, and 6, all gone. There was nothing they could do now to fix things. Silently and sadly, they followed after 1 and 7.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter will be the finale, hope you don't mind all the deaths.


	12. Release

9 made it back to the First Room with no trouble. All he had to do now was find what held the answers he was looking for. He tried to think, what in here could possibly hold the answers? He tried to remember what it was that 6 and 15 had said before being claimed themselves. “Go back! To the First Room! He'll show you! The Source!” That was when it clicked together. He'll show the answers. The only one in this room besides himself, was the dead man lying on the ground.

As he walked towards it, he tripped on a box that had fallen to the floor. It had not been there the last time, which meant that it must have happened in the past few days. He looked at the box curiously, trying to see what it contained. His wonder was answered by a Stitchpunk hand sticking out of the opening. 9 tried poking the arm, only to find that it wouldn't move. He opened the top, finding four dormant Stitchpunk bodies. He could tell just from looking at them that these four didn't make it. He decided to make a mental note to come back for them once all of this was over, he didn't have a lot of time to figure things out.

9 walked over to the body, almost every section of him covered in papers. One specific paper caught his eye. On the paper was a Stitchpunk, one that looked like him. Slowly, he began to reach for the paper. Suddenly, the window burst open, sending the paper blowing away. What was under the paper, was a small wooden box with a tag saying 9 attached to it. Realizing it was for him, 9 pulled out the box and opened it. Inside, gears began to move around and a little glass began to project an image. It was the man who 9 had found lying on the ground. What was being shown was a prerecorded message. The man began to speak.

“Greetings, 9. It had such promise, my great Machine. It was meant to be an instrument of progress, of creation. That was the agreement our Chancellor failed to honor. But the fault is hardly his alone to bear. The Machine was born purely of my intellect. Which I now know, was not enough. My creation was flawed and indeed dangerous. For it lacked, the human soul. And therefore could be easily corrupted by those who controlled it. That is why I am creating each of you. You are all that's left of humanity. You, are all the pieces of my soul. Together, you and this device will protect the future.” The view changed from the Scientist to the Talisman. “Look closely, and remember what you see.” The Scientist pressed the three symbols in a sequence, and the message proceeded to switch back to the Scientist. “I pray that together, you shall fix the biggest mistake I have ever made.”

The message ended, and 9 closed the box shut. He walked over to the Scientist and lifted the paper that covered his head. Seeing his creator, 9 smiled. This was the man who brought life to him, to all of them. It was an honor for him, even though he never got to meet the man the way the others had. Suddenly, the shot of a cannon caught his attention. Knowing what he had to do, 9 rushed out of the broken down building and followed the sounds of cannons. He wasn't about to let the lives of everyone be lost in vain.

\----------------------------

Meanwhile, 1, 3 and 4, and 7 were trying to fend off the Machine. Using a cannon, the four were working together to try to shoot it. 3 and 4 supplied the ammunition, 1 targeted the Machine, and 7 released the shots. The Machine, damaged yet still functional, drew closer and closer. “Load the cannon!” 1 yelled out. The twins began to listen to the elder Stitchpunk, but another yell stopped them.

“I now know the truth!” 9 called out. The Stitchpunks turned their heads to see 9 running to them. He ran up to 7, trying to explain the truth. “The Scientist! He's the Source! We are him!” 7 looked at 9 as if he were crazy, not knowing what to say.

1 turned his head to see the Machine coming even closer. “Fire!” he yelled out. The twins began to push the ammunition into the cannon, but 9 stopped them.

“No! Stop! You'll destroy the Talisman!”

The Machine was just lingering above them, and 1 began to shake in fear. “It's too late!” he said, throwing the switch. The Machine let out a screech of pain, which was the cue for the Stitchpunks to run. As they ran, the Machine threw the cannon, just barely hitting the Stitchpunks. It tried to make it's way through the leftover barbed wire scattered across the ground, but became tangled up in it. This allowed the five survivors to escape into the tunnel. 9 quickly gathered the others under a box of explosives, and explained his plan. “We need to secure the Talisman. I'll go after it-” he began.

“No! 9, don't do this! We've lost too many already!” 7 said, realizing that what he was planning was a suicide mission. She didn't want to lose anyone else, not after watching what had happened to 15.

“I'll show you how to use it. It'll work, trust me. I know what I'm doing.” 9 said, trying to comfort the warrior. He began to draw a picture of the Talisman in the dirt. It wasn't as great as 6 and 15's drawings, but it still worked. “This is the sequence.” he said, placing his hands over the drawing's version of the symbols. A sudden roar alerted the Stitchpunks to the Machine's nearby presence. They quickly fled from their hiding place and headed for the exit. The Machine took out a flamethrower, and shot flames into the tunnel. The flames reached the explosives, sending an explosion throughout the tunnel. The Stitchpunks ran as fast as they could, yet they couldn't avoid it and were sent out through the blast.

9 flew through the air and flipped over a few times as he hit the ground. 7 landed straight into a board sticking out of the ground, her skull helmet falling off of her head and landing on the ground. The twins ran straight to her side, trying to help her back up. 1 yelled out in pain as he crawled behind a piece of rubble, clutching his side with his hand. Once he reached safety, he looked at his hand to find it completely mangled and destroyed. Out of the smoke from the explosion came the Machine, and 9 slowly got on his feat, ready to take it down.

7 saw this and bolted towards 9. “No! Please! You can't do this!” she said as she took his hand in hers.

9 looked at her, remembering all the lives that had been lost. 2, 8, 11, 16, 5, 6, and 15. Each one of them was gone because of the stupid mistake he made. The only way he would be able to fix anything is if he ended this once and for all. “They all died because of me. I started this, and now I need to finish it.” he said, giving 7 one last look before running off in front of the Machine.

Over in his safe place, 1 watched as 9 was about to give his whole life away. He once again began to think about the things he had done to everyone, and how he could never take them back. He finally realized that what 15 had said was true. Everything he had done up until now was for the good of himself, not for the good of everyone. It was his fault that 7 had left and taken 15 and the twins with her. It was his fault that 2 had been killed. It was all his doing. “They let us nothing...nothing. Why should we have to right their wrongs?” he said, watching as the Machine began to start up the Talisman. He decided, he was going to do something for the good of everyone for once. He was going to show that girl that he did have a heart, whether she saw it or not. “Sometimes...1 must be sacrificed...” He stood up, and began to run as fast as his old legs could carry him.

As 9 waited for the Machine to take his soul, he felt something push him away. He looked up and saw 1, sacrificing himself. “No!!!” he yelled out, watching as 1's life was taken. This had to end. 9 ran up while the Machine was distracted, desperately pulling at the Talisman. Eventually, the Talisman came loose, 1's soul completely sucked dry. The Machine, opening it's eye back up, looked down at the dead body of 1 and then at 9, noticing that he had the Talisman in his grasp. 9 entered the sequence and held the Talisman towards the Machine. A bright green light shot out at it's eye, and one by one the souls came out of its eye and into the Talisman. Once all the souls were retrieved, the Machine burst into an explosion, not a bit of power left within. The body began to fall to the ground, and although 9 tried to run he became trapped under the body.

7 gasped out in fear and ran out to find 9, the twins following right behind her. Under one of the arms, she found him lying there. She removed the arm from on top of him, getting no response. She began to believe that he too, was gone. Thankfully, his eyes burst open and he began to sit up. As he did, 7 grabbed him into a hug. “You did it.” she said.

9 removed himself from 7's grasp. “No...I didn't...” he said, looking down at the Talisman. “Not yet...”

\--------------------------------

Outside the remains of the Scientist's home, the survivors had built a memorial fire. Around it was a circle of graves with the numbers of their fallen comrades. Off to the side was the four bodies 9 had found inside. He wasn't quite sure what to do with them yet, and he wanted to take care of this first. 9 stood in front of 5's grave, looking regretful. He couldn't even save his best friend. He then walked over to 16's grave, taking out his hat which had been left behind at the library after his capture. He placed it down on top of the grave and walked towards 7 and the twins. With the talisman in hand, he slowly entered the sequence once again. The Talisman began to shake rapidly, causing 9 to drop it onto the ground. It opened up, and a green form began to emerge from within. As the form emerged, 3 and 4 quickly hid behind 7.

The form fully revealed itself to be none other than 8. At first, he gave his usual scowl, but it quickly changed into a big goofy smile. The twins stopped hiding behind 7, and smiled back at him. The next one to come out of the talisman was 16. He looked different without his hat, but that couldn't be changed. He looked over at 9 and the group, giving them an idiotic grin and a thumbs up. 9 just shook his head, even in death 16 acted as ridiculous as ever. 16 proceeded to run behind 8 and pushed him towards his place on the circle before going over to his own spot, tripping on his way there.

The next Stitchpunk to emerge was 6. He turned around and waved at the others. 3 and 4 waved back at him while 7 and 9 just smiled. 6 just stood where he was, waiting for someone. And as luck would have it, just the Stitchpunk he was waiting for was the next to emerge. 15 rose from the talisman, her hands clasped together. She looked at 9 and just nodded her head at him with a small smile, telling him that he had done well. From behind her, 6 tapped her on the shoulder. 15 turned around to see 6's arms extended out to her, waiting to give her the gesture he had been too afraid to give her before. Overjoyed to see him, she ran straight into his embrace and embraced him as well. The two looked back at 9 once more as if to thank him for reuniting them. The two took each other's hand and walked to their places in the circle, which 9 was kind enough to place right next to each other. 4 looked to her brother and flashed 'I guess they didn't need our help to begin with. All they needed was time.' to him.

3 looked back at her. 'Yeah, they managed all on their own." he flashed back to her.

Next to emerge was 2, and 5 came shortly after him. 2 gave 9 a smile, while 5 looked nervous. 9 tried to give him a reassuring smile. 2 pat 5 on the shoulder, and looked back to the talisman. 11 was rising from it, which seemed to calm 5 a little. 11 looked over to the group and grinned. She turned her head to see 5, looking like she was ready to cry, and planted a kiss on his cheek. 2 smiled and walked to his place on the grave circle. Finally, 1 emerged from the talisman, the same scowl on his face as always. he began to walk towards 9. He placed his hand on 9's shoulder, and for once, smiled. It was surprising, yet comforting to see 1 approve of 9's actions for once. He too, walked to his place in the circle, and with that everyone was in their respective places.

The eight souls began to slowly rise into the sky. Although most of them accepted this, 5 remained where he was and looked at 9 frightened. The zippered Stitchpunk just once again smiled at 5 reassuringly. 11 tapped his shoulder, and when 5 turned around she held out her hand. She was waiting for him. Although he was hesitant, 5 smiled at his lover and took her hand. The two began to rise into the sky along with the others. 9 and 7 watched as they rose into the heavens.

“They're free now...” 7 said to 9. The souls all come together when they reached the clouds, and once they had vanished, thunder could be heard from the sky. Small drops of water began to fall from the sky and on top of the four remaining Stitchpunks. 3 and 4 recognized this as rain, having read about it before. As the raindrops fell, 9 and 7 looked to each other, realizing that their mission was complete. The souls of their friends were free, the machine was destroyed, and everyone was happy.

“What happens now?” 7 asked.

“I'm not sure, exactly. But this world is ours now, it's what we make of it.”

The lifeless bodies were covered in rain as well, and although the others didn't notice it, one of their hands began to twitch slightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! I left a sequel hook there in case I wanted to return to this project, but I can't make any promises.

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter serves as an introduction to our characters and where they are with all but 9 released in the world during the war. Everything begins here as they all try to survive.


End file.
